The Dead Files
by Largo
Summary: All my old, unedited fics that will *not* be completed or continued in the form they are seen here. Archive purposes only.
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto – Bloodlust**

If anyone was wondering, one of the reasons my enthusiasm for writing fics died, this fic is probably the biggest source of it. Like most of my stuff, I actually had a whole load of back-story planned out, stuff to be revealed slowly in further chapters, but the complaints and bile directed at me for not telling/showing/revealing everything upfront in the first f*****g paragraph was upsetting.

In hindsight, if I ever were to go back to this I'll have to rearrange it so it follows Naruto growing up instead of jumping back as required. Just so the 'special' people can understand why the characters act the way they were…and to think, the manga uses this a lot. I wonder how they followed that…

The usual – I don't own em.

x-X-x

The air was rent by the ear-splitting roar of the monstrous nine-tailed beast, causing an evil feeling wind to blow over the battlefield. If pure, unrefined hatred had a smell, it would smell like the breath of the Kyuubi.

The ground shook and reverberated from the volume of the beast's mindless bellows, joining in with the slamming of nine powerful tails, that shook the very earth to a destructive beat, almost like that of a thrash metal drummer jacked up on speed.

With each swipe of a tail, huge tracts of land were ripped up and flung away, leaving damp earth exposed to the air, like gaping wounds clawed in flesh. Massive trees were uprooted, ancient and strong, destroyed in seconds, reduced to nothing more than splintered chunks of wood.

The Kyuubi would destroy an area before springing in a leap that covered miles to another spot at random, where it would repeat the devastation before moving on, slowly working its way around the outskirts of Konoha in a tightening spiral, as if it were systematically wiping out every trace of the hidden village.

Konoha's defenders, it's Shinobi were unable to mount a cohesive defense, whenever their numbers grew large enough to annoy the beast it moved away, tiring out the ninja as they were forced to be constantly in pursuit. Even if it stayed still, many had no delusions of taking the monster down. The evil, corrosive chakra that hung around the beast was overpowering, enough that you did not need to be sensitive to it to feel the Kyuubi's presence.

The defenders had suffered massive losses as the first wave had been wiped out in a heartbeat. The strongest of the ninja were attempting every trick they knew to try and slow the beast's approach, to give the villagers chance to get into the shelters deep underground. This was no longer a struggle to defeat the Kyuubi, now it was a matter of keeping as many alive as possible.

As more died assaulting the beast, with as much success as a few ants trying to move an elephant, a sense of despair gathered over the defenders.

Another thud shock the earth causing a change in the atmosphere. A newborn glimmer of hope went through the ninja as they saw the giant boss summon, Gamabunta appeared near the Kyuubi. Those closest could just make out the white cloak of the fourth as he stood on top of the giant toad's head.

"Get ready." Minato told Gamabunta as he stared towards his death.

"You sure this'll work?" the giant toad rumbled and braced himself as the Kyuubi slowly turned around as it noticed their presence.

"No." Minato glanced down at his newborn son he held in the crook of his arm. "There's so much that can go wrong with a seal this complicated."

Naruto mewled pitifully, instinctively fearing the hideous presence nearby.

"Nobody has tried this before. It'll either work or it won't." Minato's face hardened as the Kyuubi turned to fully regard them with empty blood-red eyes. It bared its teeth and began snarling and snapping like a rabid dog, not at all like the malicious and intelligent monster it was supposed to be.

In his mind Minato's suspicions that this was not just a random encounter with the legendary beast were confirmed. The Kyuubi just happened to appear on the outskirts of Konoha? With no earlier sightings? At exactly midnight? Too much of a coincidence. Somehow, someone had caused this.

He hadn't anytime to contemplate the situation further, or for regrets as the giant fox tensed, ready to pounce. Minato began rushing through the required hand seals of the last and most complicated technique he would ever do. Even with the incredible speed he performed the seal, the Kyuubi had almost covered the distance between them. Minato finished the last seal in time to stare the beast in the eye as it's massive jaws opened.

He immediately knew something had gone wrong as he felt an enormous drain on his chakra. His eyes widened in surprise at the wrenching, pulling sensation as his chakra was seemingly torn out of his body.

'Creating the contract isn't suppose to use this much chakra!' Minato clenched his teeth against the feeling of being ripped in two.

"Gamabunta! Get out of here!" Minato managed to shout out, hoping the boss toad would hear him over the Kyuubi's roar as it attacked. With the last of his rapidly vanishing supplies of chakra he initiated the Hiraishin-no-Jutsu and vanished.

He reappeared in the pre-prepared spot in the forests outside Konoha that he had chosen in case it all went terrible wrong, as had happened. Naruto was crying in his arms as Minato glanced into the distance where he could feel and hear the Kyuubi continuing to destroy the area. He hoped Gamabunta had had the sense to de-summon himself.

He could taste blood. Raising his free hand to his mouth he wiped at the dampness and brought his fingers up. They were smeared with his blood, which appeared black under the pale moonlight. He gave a rattling cough as the pain registered. With his vision beginning to fade he used the last of his strength to lean against the nearest tree. He slowly sank down until he sat back against the tree amongst it's roots.

"I'm sorry." Minato told the forest in a hoarse whisper. He knew Sarutobi, if the old man lived through the night, would find his body and take care of Naruto for him. He hoped Konoha would find some way to survive. He was so very tired, even holding his head up was too much and he let it droop and waited for the approaching darkness to claim him.

A twig snapped and the sound of heavy boots crunching against the earthy forest floor made Minato force his head up to see who was there.

"Old man?" he grimaced at fresh agony moving caused.

He saw an unusual style of heavy boot, one without the toes showing. As he looked up his senses began screaming something wasn't natural about the person before him. Minato continued to raise his eyes past the long tight leggings and short skirt, up over the definitely military style top, with the very top two buttons undone, and his labored breath caught in his throat at the twin glowing red orbs, the only things visible where the woman's face was hidden in the darkness.

"Sharingan?" Minato blinked in surprise. 'No!' he realized as they had no tomoe.

The shadows covering the person's face split into a wide inhuman grin, revealing sharp, shark-like teeth.

"I don't know where I am." the woman's voice had an odd accent Minato had never heard before. She knelt down and leaned in close to the dying Hokage. As her face came into the moonlight the shark-teeth and glowing red eyes seemed to melt away leaving her face that of a normal looking person.

"I don't know who you are."

Minato coughed again in surprise and wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him or whether this creature before him was mocking him with its appearance. If he had had a sister he was sure she would look like the woman before him.

'She looks so young.' he thought in surprise as blue eyes regarded him curiously.

"I don't know what's going on." she continued running a finger across Minato's chin, collecting some of his blood on the tip. "I don't know how I know you summoned me." she held her bloodied finger up to study it before licking it clean. "The only thing that I *do* know is…you owe me a soul for whatever reason." Her eyes flared red for a moment, before fading back to blue and she smiled innocently like a child at him.

"Shingami?" Minato croaked out the question.

"I've not been called that before." she continued to smile. Her eyes shifted down towards the whimpering Naruto. "Is he the offering?"

"Stay away from him! My soul was the offering!" Minato growled out with a final burst of strength at the thought of whatever this woman was taking Naruto instead of himself.

Her grin widened.

"Not a coward. Good. I hate eating them." she leaned closer, making Minato shiver from her cold breath on his neck. The last sensation he felt was that of teeth sinking into the flesh of his neck and everything slowly going cold and dark.

x-X-x

Seras pulled away as the last of the blood dried up and the memories of Minato's life settled into place inside her. She stared down at the body with the familiar now to her sensation of looking at herself, even though it wasn't her. She contemplated his life and found herself fascinated by his deeds and skills. Minato had been everything she respected.

Naruto cried in the cooling arm of his father's body drawing her attention to him. She regarded her son. Minato's son she corrected herself as she shook her head. The overlap of memories were always powerful for the first few minutes after feeding as deeply on someone as she had.

Seras gently picked the baby up and studied him. He was so familiar to her now even though she had only seen him for the first time a few minutes ago. A maternal instinct grew inside her as she studied the newborn, something she had never expected to feel as a vampire. She had never had the desire for children in the last thirty years, not that she could have them anyway, so this feeling confused her.

"Sorry about eating your dad." Seras told Naruto. "I'll find you a good family before leaving."

Naruto's cries faded as she held him. His eyes found hers for a moment and captivated her with their innocence.

The moment was broken by a ground shaking roar off in the distance.

Seras turned towards the noise. She could feel the malevolence and rage from the Kyuubi as it continued to destroy Konoha and all the villagers that lived there. The nine tailed fox. The most powerful chakra entity in this world. It's presence was compared to a natural disaster. She knew all this now.

The Kyuubi terrified these people. It excited her.

She glanced back down at Naruto, feeling oddly conflicted at the thought of leaving these people to die. It was Minato's memories causing this she told herself, even as she made her decision.

"Damn it Minato." Seras grumbled. "I'm going to do something stupid for you." In her head she had already used Minato to figure out what he had done wrong with the sealing.

"Come on kid. Looks like we're going to get to know each other very well." Seras smirked as they both vanished into nothingness.

They reappeared and hovered in the air above and behind the raging beast. Seras was impressed at the waves of evil power that rolled off it.

"Good thing you didn't get Master." she smirked imagining the destruction Alucard would have unleashed to have the thrill of fighting something this strong.

"Now, this seal requires a soul. Good thing I got some spares." Seras grinned and let her presence be known. She allowed every fiber of her vampireness to spread out over the area. The effect was immediate. The Kyuubi turned it's attention towards the strange entity in time to witness the real summoning of the Death God.

x-X-x

Everyone of Konoha's active shinobi paused in their attacks and attempts to slow the Kyuubi down as a second unnatural chakra was felt over the battlefield. They watched on in confusion as the Kyuubi turned around to growl and snap at something in the air they couldn't see. As the clouds broke they saw the silhouette of a person with what appeared to be a massive shadowy and never fixed shape wing hovering before the moon.

As quickly as the clouds had parted they reappeared, sending the land back into darkness.

"What is that?" Sarutobi heard someone call out in confusion.

"Concentrate on the nine tails!" the retired Hokage commanded trying to keep everyone focused on the task at hand.

"Where did the fox go?" someone shouted uncertainly.

A curious muttering went over the battlefield as the shinobi suddenly realized the powerful and evil chakra had vanished. Everything had gone silent, aside from the groans of the wounded.

Sarutobi looked around. There was no sign of the beast. No roaring or shaking of the ground. It had just gone. 'Has Minato done it?' he wondered as all eyes turned towards him, asking for what to do.

"Spread out! Search the area! Make sure this isn't a trick!" Sarutobi shouted. He stared towards where the Kyuubi had just been seconds ago and hoped that it was truly gone. After he had seen the Kyuubi send Gamabunta packing he had lost nearly all hope. Had it just taken a long time to seal the beast?

He waited with baited breath, expecting any moment to hear another roar or feel the evil corrosive chakra.

"Third-sama, it's gone." a battered looking ANBU said as he landed before Sarutobi. "We can't find it anywhere."

"Send word it appears to have been defeated." Sarutobi told those nearest to him. "Keep on your guard until I confirm the situation."

"Sir!" multiple voices said before rushing off to spread to news.

Sarutobi jogged towards where the Kyuubi had last been. He would take time to shout for the wounded he saw to be moved and give other orders to anyone that looked ready to break down. He knew sometimes you need to keep people busy in times of stress. He passed bodies of those cut down by the monster, the loss of life had been high.

Soon he stepped into the area the Kyuubi had last been seen. The residue energy of the Kyuubi's evil feeling chakra hovered in the air. Even the ground seem stained with the feeling. As he examined the area he spotted a familiar white cloak.

Sarutobi broke out into a run despite himself.

"Minato!" he called out hoping against hope the Fourth was still alive.

The accented and female voice that replied caused him to draw up short.

"Hey old man. We need to talk." Seras said tickling Naruto's belly where the seal was visible.

x-X-x

12 Years Later

Sarutobi hummed away to himself, pipe firmly between his lips as he idly made his way towards the Hokage office, enjoying the bright sunshine. He exchanged greetings with many of Konoha's residents that he passed in the streets. He felt more relaxed than he had for a long time today, even Danzo himself couldn't have ruined his mood.

He soon entered the Hokage's tower and greeted the receptionist, exchanging daily pleasantries with her as he did most days. He enjoyed his little chats with her. It helped that she was cute too.

All too soon he had to dismiss himself on business reasons and made his way up the tower.

"Good day." Sarutobi nodded to the ANBU guards stationed outside the Hokage's door as they let him past after a quick check over.

Upon entering the Hokage's office, Sarutobi was once again struck by the difference from the hallways. Despite being a warm day, the office remained cool. The air held a strange unnatural chill that tickled at your senses, as if warning you there was something dangerous inside, that you should flee.

Sarutobi looked over to the desk and wondered where the Hokage was, seeing the unfinished paperwork and no one sitting there. He suspected any moment now that an amused voice would whisper in his ear in an attempt to make him flinch. That had long become a game between them. Who could sneak up on the other.

"Hey old man." that carefree and strangely accented voice called from over by the window that looked out over Konoha.

"Not trying to catch me unawares today?" Sarutobi asked with a wiry grin as he puffed on his pipe and turned towards the voice. The Hokage stood staring out the window, blond spiky hair was highlighted by the sunlight that streamed through the window, turning it into a bright, almost white halo, like that of an angel. Although that was as far from the truth as could be he was told.

"Nah!" Bright blue eyes turned towards Sarutobi, sparkling with mischief. "I've had my fun already today."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Caught one of Danzo's guys trying to poison me."

"Really." Sarutobi shook his head in amusement. "And how do you know it was one of his, Minato?"

"You can call me Seras when we're alone you know?"

"Of course Minato." the old man smirked at her eye roll.

"And I know cause I ate him." Seras Victoria replied with a cute grin, one fang popping over her bottom lip. "I shipped the body back to him with a thank you note for the breakfast."

"You know that's disturbing."

"What?" Seras asked pretending to be innocent.

"Acting cute when talking about eating people." Sarutobi blew a ring of smoke and then went serious. "He's getting to be a problem with his suspicions and attempts to undermine you. If the truth comes out it would cause a problem."

"He's not suspicious. He knows I'm not the original Fourth." Seras shrugged unconcerned. "Not that he can prove it. With us actually looking very similar and all the tests I had to sit through to prove I'm the Hokage despite my gender change in inverted commas. Anyway, I like him. Keeps me amused, especially as that eye of his don't work on me and it drives him insane trying to figure out why."

"I still can't believe you passed the blood test."

"That's easy when Minato is a part of me." Seras smirked.

"I suppose so." Sarutobi agreed. With her explanations of what she was and how she could take a person's soul and make it a part of her, he often wondered how her mind worked. What was it like to have sets of memories that were not your own? Did they stay separate and talk to her? Or did they all blend into one being?

"Anything interesting going on that I should know of?" Seras asked. Her tone of voice had switched to what Sarutobi recognized as her 'Minato' state as she turned back to look out the window. She placed her hands behind her back, resting against the inverted colored Hokage cloak. She had had the white and red pattern swapped around, just because she liked the red more.

"Nothing that requires your immediate attention."

"That's good." she said and then chuckled in a bubbly manner. "Today is turning out to be very amusing."

"Hmm? You *are* in a good mood, considering the sun's shining so brightly. Don't you usually complain about it?" Sarutobi approached, curious as to why she was standing happily at the window.

"Yeah, but this is too funny." Seras replied and pointed outside.

"What is?"

"Naruto's actually managed to deface the Hokage monument. I'm waiting for the fireworks to start."

"Oh." Sarutobi stated absently as he stepped up beside the vampire. "Wait what!?" he did a double take as he caught sight of the paint covered faces carved in the mountain.

The door behind them burst open admitting a pair of Chunin.

"Hokage-sama! Naruto is vandalizing the Hokage monument!"

"This time with paint!"

x-X-x

By the time Seras and Sarutobi arrived on the tower roof a large crowd had gathered. Murmurs of disapproval and disgust ran through the crowd and some began shouting up at the blond boy as he continued to brazenly slap paint all over the monument.

"Look at what he's done!"

"Stop doing this!"

"Stop causing trouble!"

"You'll pay for this!"

Naruto finished adding the last touches to the swirly spiral he was doodling and kicked off so he spun to face the crowd.

"Shut up you morons! None of you could do something like this! Not even my mom! But I can cause I'm incredible!"

"Geez. What has that idiot done?" Sarutobi sighed as the crowd parted for him. He glanced to his side and was surprised to find Seras had vanished.

"I'm afraid I must apologize for this, Third." Iruka stood with one foot against the rails and looked very much annoyed.

"Hm?" Sarutobi turned his attention to the scared teacher. Iruka took a deep breath before bellowing up at Naruto.

"What the hell are you doing during class? Get down here you moron!"

"Oh crap! That's Iruka-sensei!" Naruto flinched at hearing the teacher's voice. He quickly spun and went to climb up the rope he was using to hang in place when another voice, one that made him panic more than his teacher's.

"Naruto…" Seras stated calmly as she stood horizontally against the rocky monument and stared down at Naruto, arms folded. She didn't look amused. Internally she was chuckling away, but she had appearances to keep up in front of the villagers.

"Ehheheh…Hi mom." Naruto nervously chuckled and rubbed at the back of his head.

"You do know you're going to be punished for this?" Seras stated coolly.

"I was just showing that I can do stuff even you can't!" Naruto explained. "So you should just give me the Hokage hat now."

"Really?" Seras pulled out a kunai and casually used it the clean under her finger nails.

"Um, yeah…"

"You really think I couldn't paint the monument?"

"…" Naruto paused as he realized he probably should have thought of doing something else than this to prove he could do something no one else could, seeing how his mother was standing against the vertical face as easily as if it were the ground. "Ah…"

"Tell you what. I'll give you the hat…"

"Really!?"

"…if you learn how to fly." Seras finished.

"Huh? Fly?" Naruto pondered for a moment before his eyes widened in terror as Seras casually flicked the kunai at the rope, cutting right through it. "OH…shi-"

He began screaming as he plummeted ground-wards. There was a surprised gasp from the crowd as they watched on in dumb shock as the blond boy shot past them.

"I'm sooorrryy!" Naruto cried out as the ground rapidly approached. His eyes were streaming tears from the rushing wind.

Seras waited till the last moment before vanishing into thin air and reappeared in time to pluck Naruto out of the air by the back of his t-shirt. The pair vanished once more and reappeared on the Hokage tower roof in front of the crowd. Seras casually dropped Naruto, who remained frozen in shock where she left him. She began tying him up with the rope he still had around his waist and whistled happily to herself.

"Here you go." Seras presented Naruto to Iruka, dangling him like a yo-yo. "I think he's learned his lesson. Make sure he cleans that up after school as punishment."

x-X-x

Naruto remained strangely silent for the entire trip back to class, where Iruka dumped the boy in front of everyone else in his class and gave Naruto his most disappointed look.

"Hmph!" Naruto looked away.

"Tomorrow is the Shinobi Academy's graduation exam, which you've failed twice." Iruka growled out pointing his finger down at Naruto. "As the Hokage's son you should be setting an example, not causing trouble! Idiot!"

"Whatever." Naruto muttered, having heard a similar lecture many times before.

Iruka's patience finally snapped. "Time for a Henge-no-jutsu test! Everyone line up!"

"What?!" the class groaned.

"Transform perfectly into me!" Iruka demanded as the class began lining up, many of the students sending Naruto annoyed glares at the surprise test he had gotten them all. Iruka began calling out names and the student performed the technique.

"Namikaze Naruto!" Iruka finally got to Naruto.

"This is all your fault." one student stated as Naruto passed.

"Like I care." Naruto snorted. He walked forward. 'Man this sucks.' he thought taking a good look at Iruka and trying to focus on the teacher's thoughts. He slowly got an amusing idea. 'Well, here we go.'

Naruto gathered his chakra while keeping his thoughts focused on what he could just barely feel from Iruka.

"Henge!"

The smoke of a successful henge covered Naruto for a moment, obscuring him. When it cleared Iruka felt his heart skip a beat. Instead of a copy of himself, Naruto was now a tall leggy brunet in racy underwear. She was exactly Iruka's type, in fact he found himself for a moment stunned as the girl of his dreams appeared before him.

"Hi there big boy." Naruto's transformed voice was smooth as silk and Iruka found naughty thoughts going through his mind. His jaw dropped as he became completely mesmerized by his perfect woman. He lost all anger at Naruto and suddenly found himself completely in Naruto's thrall.

'Wait a minute! Naruto?' Iruka blinked twice. Shook his head to try and clear his mind, before finally punching himself in the head, breaking the spell.

"Hahahaha!" Naruto laughed as he reverted back to normal. "I call this one sexy-no-jutsu!"

There was a stunned silence for a moment.

"You moron! Don't invent stupid skills!" Iruka erupted, bellowing at the top of his lungs. He felt angry, ashamed, frustrated and aroused by Naruto's trick.

x-X-x

Later on, under the watchful eye of Iruka, Naruto slowly cleaned away the paint on Hokage monument. He muttered away to himself as he worked on the hanging platform.

"I'm not letting you go until this is all cleaned up as good as new." Iruka stated, arms folded. He glared down at Naruto. "How many times are you going to keep making such a fool of yourself Naruto? As the son of the Hokage you should be setting an example. Do you have any idea how disappointed she must be?"

"Yeah whatever." Naruto snapped and then quietly. "Son of the Hokage." he mimed. "Just like everyone else. You don't see me, only the son of the Hokage. That all any of you care about. It's the only reason anyone has time for me." He sniffed feeling himself tearing up with a frustration he wasn't able to release.

Iruka paused for a moment as Naruto's shoulder's slumped and thought over the quiet words he had just heard. 'Is this why Naruto always acts the clown?' Iruka wondered.

"Hey, Naruto."

"What?" Naruto turned his watery eyes up towards the teacher.

"Well, um, if you get everything cleaned up I'll buy you some ramen." Iruka rubbed at his nose, feeling embarrassed that he may have missed the reason for Naruto's behavior. He had to blink in surprise as Naruto's face suddenly became filled with an almost desperate hope.

"Ok! I'll work as hard as I can!"

x-X-x

"Naruto…" Iruka began to speak as the two of them sat at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar later that night. He had a need to confirm what he was suspecting about Naruto. "Why were you doing that to the monument? Don't you realize what it represents to Konoha?"

"Of course I do." Naruto replied through a mouthful of noodles. "Basically those who get the title of Hokage are the strongest in the village, right. My mom is the Fourth and saved the village by destroying a fox demon."

Although technically true, it wasn't completely the full truth. Iruka wasn't going to say anything to correct Naruto, there was a law in place forbidding those that were there from speaking about what actually had happened. The Hokage would one day explain it to Naruto, Iruka knew.

"Then why?" he asked instead.

"Well, one day I'm going to get the Hokage title. I will surpass all the previous Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed pointing his chopsticks at the teacher. "And then! I'll make everyone acknowledge my strength is my own and not my mom's!"

Iruka raised his eyebrows at this statement. 'So I was right. He's tired of living in the Fourth's shadow. And it is a large one…' Iruka admitted to himself.

"Um, Iruka-sensei I have a little request." Naruto clapped his hands together and spoke extremely politely.

"What? You want another bowl?" Iruka asked suspiciously as Naruto wasn't one to be polite.

"No…can I borrow your forehead protector?"

"Oh this?" Iruka grinned lifting his forehead protector with his fingers. "No, no. This is what you get after graduating. It's a symbol you've come of age. Maybe you'll get one tomorrow."

"Awww…"

x-X-x

It was late when Naruto cracked open the door to his family home. The house was built in the usual Konoha standard but on a larger scale. It often felt much larger by the fact only the two of them lived there.

No lights were on in the entrance way, but that didn't bother Naruto. He had always had excellent night vision. As quietly as he could he sneaked down the empty hallway, his senses straining for his mother. He was not feeling in the mood to have to explain to her why he did what he did. He had had enough tellings off with Iruka, but at least the teacher seemed to be treating him as a person instead of something special, like an important museum piece that nobody dared to touch in case it broke.

Instead of heading towards his room, Naruto went towards the kitchen. He poked his head around the door frame carefully making sure his mother wasn't there before he stepped in. He made his way over to the fridge and pulled the door open.

The light from the fridge was bright enough to make his eyes water after being in almost complete darkness for so long. Once his eyes adjusted Naruto scanned the inside the large fridge. It was pretty bare. A couple of cartons of milk, a small selection of fruit and vegetables. Another small selection of prepackaged meats. Oh, and his mother's bottles of red wine she made sure he was not allowed to touch on pain of a painful training session.

His mother never cooked and he had pretty much learned the fend for himself when it came to food. Oh, she went shopping for the food for him, but she never attempted to make any since he had gotten good enough to make his own.

He grabbed a carton of milk, sniffed it to make sure it wasn't off and took a few good swigs from it. He shut the door quietly and turned to head towards his bedroom, not that he expected to get much sleep. He often had trouble sleeping at night, finding it much easier to sleep during class instead. That often got him a telling off from Iruka.

"Want to talk?" Seras asked from where she leaned against the kitchen tops by the sink.

It showed how much he was used to her appearing out of nowhere that Naruto didn't bat an eyelid.

"Not really." Naruto faked a yawn. "I'm tired. Got to get some sleep tomorrow for the exam."

"Liar. You take after…me." she stated with a small, bemused but slightly sad smile. "We both know neither of us get much sleep at night."

Naruto remained silent.

"I see…" Seras sighed. "Okay, how about I talk and you listen. You're sick of being treated differently from everyone else. You have lots of 'friends' but feel alone because you somehow know a lot of them think you're strange and a little creepy, and they're being pushed to be friends with you by their parents trying to wrangle their way into my good books. A lot of adults act all nice around you but you can tell they don't really like you. You sometimes sense this from people and it hurts to know they're just speaking to you because of what you are not *who* you are. Right?"

Naruto found his jaw was hanging open as his mother nailed every single one of his thoughts perfectly.

"H…how?"

"I can read your mind. No seriously." Seras grinned at his look of disbelief. "It's a gift. One you've inherited as well, but don't have much control over."

"Y-you mean, I can read minds?" Naruto blinked.

"Nope."

Naruto frowned.

"What you're sensing is just surface feelings. Not thoughts as such. You don't have the control for that. It would take you some training to even begin to get close to reading minds. But you still could use it as it is to gage a person's true intentions towards you."

"But I could learn?"

"Yes." Seras hesitated slightly in answering. "However, you should really concentrate more on normal Jutsu. I don't want to teach you…family…techniques until you're older."

'There is also a slight complication with a certain demon and seal.' Seras added silently to herself.

"We have our own techniques? Cool! So when can I learn them?"

"When you're older."

"Mooooooooom!"

"Okay, let's make a deal." Seras relented.

"Sure!"

'Did I ever jump into deals so quickly when I was younger?' Seras wondered before going slightly embarrassed remembering how quickly she had agreed to become a vampire without even know that was what she was going to become.

"What do I have to do?" Naruto looked up at her excitedly.

"I'll teach you to how to never miss with a kunai."

"That's lame. We already get shown how to throw them well at school." Naruto looked unimpressed.

"I'll teach you a better method." Seras grinned. Naruto still looked unsure. "Fine, I'll also give you the basics of how to control when you pick up surface thoughts so it won't be so random for you any longer. How's that sound?"

"Teach me Hiraishin-no-Jutsu as well." Naruto gave her the puppy-dog eyes.

"I can't teach you that until you learn to throw a kunai my way." She made an excuse up.

"Awww c'mon!"

"Hiraishin-no-Jutsu relies upon using specially sealed kunai. So you need to one, learn how to make them, and two learn how to throw them my way."

"Anyway…" She continued before Naruto could begin begging. "Don't you want your own techniques?"

"I guess…"

"Great! Graduate tomorrow and then we'll work on never missing a target ever again."

"Can't you show me now?" Naruto bounced excitedly. "Cause I'm gonna ace it anyway!"

"Not tonight." Seras stepped up and rustled his hair. "I've got stuff I need to finish up."

"Fine." Naruto's face fell and he sighed in resigned acceptance. He turned to leave. "You're never around when I need you."

"I know its hard on you, but there's more to being a Hokage than just being the strongest. You'll have to learn that if you want the job." Seras explained to his back. "Naruto, no matter how alone you feel or where you are, remember, I'm always with you."

Naruto paused mid-step as his mom's words made a warm, happy feeling swell up in his chest. He spun around to give her a hug only to find the kitchen empty.

"Gah! Don't say sappy stuff like that and vanish!!" Naruto bellowed to the empty house.

x-X-x

The next day dawned bright and early and for once Naruto rushed to class excitedly. Once he passed he would begin some real training with his mom! He sat in class and fidgeted excitedly as the tests went by quickly, until the last one came up.

"The last technique you need to be able to do to graduate…" Iruka stood before the class and read out from the clipboard he held. "Is the Bunshin-no-Jutsu."

The class went deathly silent aside from the sound of Naruto slamming his head against the desk. Many eyes turned to fearfully regard Naruto as he mumbled something unpleasant into the wooden surface.

"Urg…very troublesome." Shikamaru muttered trying to resist the urge to eye Naruto out the corner of his eyes.

"I've lost my appetite." Choji stated beside him and threw away his half eaten packet of chips.

"Um, Iruka?" Mizuki leaned over to whisper in the other teacher's ear. "Are you certain that's such a good idea…" he glanced at Naruto. "…After the last time…"

"Don't worry." Iruka whispered back. "That had to be a fluke."

"And the time before?"

"Look, it's the curriculum. They have to be able to do this simple technique to pass."

"Still…maybe we should just say they passed."

"Naruto can do this." Iruka continued to whisper. "I know he can."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Mizuki looked unconvinced.

Iruka sighed and looked around the class at all the disturbed and some green around gills expressions. He remembered some of the previous attempts by Naruto and repressed a shudder himself. Thinking back to the boy's words the night before he suspected if he just let Naruto (and by extension the rest of class) pass without doing the last test after announcing it, Naruto would once again feel he was only passing because of who he was.

"Naruto, you'll go first." Iruka called out confidently, his mind made up.

Like a condemned man, Naruto climbed out his seat and walked towards the front of the class. He stood before the desk as Iruka and Mizuki sat down behind it. Hearing a shuffling and scraping of chairs, Naruto turned around to see the front row of the class had vacated their seats and were making their way further back. The only one still in the front row was that annoying bastard Sasuke. He remained there with his hands in-front of his mouth and staring quietly forward, deep in his own thoughts.

"Oi!" Naruto growled at the class.

"Naruto. Begin!" Iruka called out, bringing his attention back to the task at hand.

'I can do this!' Naruto told himself as he began to gather all his power. The shadows in the room seemed to draw in as Naruto began the technique. The class went completely silent in anticipation.

"Bunshin-"

Naruto's shadow shifted underneath him and grew.

"-No-"

The black pool expanded to the side and the room seemed to grow cold.

"-Jutsu!"

Naruto put everything thing he had into the technique. The shadow pool that had swelled out to the side bulged upwards, stretching like a thick oily blackness. It wobbled around like jelly, went taunt then popped like a lanced boil. There was a sudden stench of decay and a sickly gurgling, bloated noise was heard.

Naruto glanced to the side and had to step away in disgust. There was a gasp and more sounds of disgust from the classroom.

The clone, if it could be called that, was a massive, bloated and misshapen lump of stretched tight gray flesh in the basic shape of a person. It looked like the corpse of an extremely overweight man that had been left out in the sun for too long. Massive pustules of disgusting smelling fluids covered the clone's entire body. It massive triple chin was rippling like a water bed. It groaned and belched sending more foul smells into the air.

"W-what is that…?" Mizuki asked in disgust as the 'clone' hiccuped as if it were trying to not be sick.

"Urg…" Iruka looked ill. He had seen some unpleasant sights and this was ranking right up there with the worst. "Naruto…what did you…do?"

"It's a Bunshin…err…I think?" Naruto continued to back away from the so-called clone with his palms raised to ward the thing off.

"That's no Bunshin." Iruka muttered. "Dispel it."

Naruto looked at the teacher in confusion. "Dispel it? How do I do that?"

Iruka slapped a hand to his forehead. 'Of course, we banned him from using this technique after the other times. He's doesn't know how to get rid of…it.'

"I'll do it." Iruka pulled out a kunai and aimed it at the…thing. He threw it.

The kunai pierced the disgusting gray skin and the reaction was immediate. The clone popped like an over ripe melon spraying the entire classroom in a thick, yellowy puss-like substance. The only thing louder than the sudden noise of retching were the screams of disgust.

x-X-x

"I can still taste it." Mizuki complained after Iruka and himself had finished cleaning the disgusting ooze off themselves and getting a change of clothes. "I'll never feel clean again…"

"At least you didn't get the full brunt of it." Iruka grumbled as he tried to repress the memories of the wave of grossness spraying at him.

"I *did* warn you."

Iruka replied with a lidded stare at the other teacher. They continued to head back towards the classroom where they had left Naruto to clean up the mess he had made. The exam was canceled until tomorrow after the incident.

"What do you think? Should he pass?" Mizuki asked as they turned into the right corridor.

"Well…I don't know…"

"Technically he did create…something…"

"It wasn't a Bunshin though." Iruka argued. "He technically shouldn't pass."

"Maybe, but it would have been quite a distraction. The whole point of Bunshin. Could you imagine the chaos something like that could cause on the battlefield?"

Iruka could. Something like that popping up in the middle of a battle and exploding all over? If your opponents weren't overpowered with disgust, trying to hide when you were covered in that foul smelling ooze would be next to impossible.

"I…guess you're right. It wasn't Bunshin but it is a useful, if disgusting, technique." Iruka relented and reached into one of his pockets to retrieve a Konoha forehead protector. He stared at the forehead protector deep in thought as he turned it over a few times.

"Here we are." Mizuki wrinkled his nose and waved a hand under it as he once again smelt that stench, faded but still hanging around. The classroom door was open. The two teachers paused just outside and stared in. Iruka did his best to breathe through his mouth, though that didn't help much.

Inside the classroom, Naruto was still mopping up the mess. All the windows were wide open to let the smell escape and Naruto was wearing a cloth mask over his face. He also had his goggles down as he mopped at the floor. He had gotten most of the floor cleared of the ooze, but the front desks and ceiling still were splattered.

Luckily for most of the students, they had moved to the rear of the class the moment they heard that Naruto was to do a Bunshin, having learned to stand back when Naruto attempted that technique. There was a slightly clear spot on one of the front desks where Sasuke had been sitting. The Uchiha had been the only student to get covered with a lot of the ooze when the thing had exploded, being the only one to stay in the front row. Whether that had been brave or stupid was left up for debate.

"Naruto. Come here." Iruka called out.

"Uh ho." Naruto mumbled behind his mask and put the mop into the bucket to stand. He suspected he was in trouble. He moped over to the teachers and pulled the mask down and raised his goggles once he stood before them.

"Naruto, we've been discussing your…performance." Iruka began as Naruto looked on nervously. "Despite you not performing Bunshin-no-Jutsu correctly, what you did do is a…good enough substitute. You pass."

Iruka held out the forehead protector.

Naruto's face went through a couple of emotions. Shock. Happiness. A frown of deep thought, before his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Keep it!"

"What?" Iruka was taken aback by Naruto's sudden outburst.

"I'll take the test again tomorrow with everyone else!"

"Naruto…" Iruka trailed off at seeing the look of betrayal and anger in Naruto's eyes. He then realized why Naruto was upset. "Ah, I see. If that's your decision-"

"I'll prove I can do it! Can I finish cleaning this now?" Naruto snapped.

"We'll leave you to finish up then," Iruka nodded, turning to leave.

Naruto grunted something as he went back to work.

x-X-x

"Phew. Finally." Naruto sighed in relief as the last of the ooze was finally wiped away. It was getting close to sunset. The light streaming in through the open windows was turning orange.

Naruto dropped the foul smelling mop back in the bucket and stretched his back out. He took a glance into the bucket and pulled a disgusted face at the rancid water.

"Aw man, I've got to get rid of this now." he moaned not wanting to pick it up.

"What am I doing wrong?" Naruto frowned, trying to figure out why he kept messing a supposed simple technique up. "Every time I try Bunshin-no-jutsu something gross like that happens."

"Maybe you're trying too hard."

Naruto turned in surprise at hearing Mizuki-sensei's voice behind him.

"Mizuki-sensei?"

"Hey. Nice job cleaning it up." Mizuki inspected the classroom.

"Trying too hard?" Naruto pondered that for a moment. "I don't know…I do it exactly how you guys told me to. But every time I get Zombie-no-Jutsu not Bunshin-no-Jutsu."

"I have an idea that might help you. It would mean a bit of work on your part. Want to hear it?" Mizuki said slyly.

"Really?" Naruto perked up.

"Bunshin-no-Jutsu is very basic right? There are actually a few different ways to perform it. If you have trouble with the normal version, learning a different version would let you pass."

"Different version?"

"Yeah. You see the Third has a scroll he keeps in his house with the special version of many techniques on it. If you get that scroll and learned the other version it would still count."

"Really?"

"As long as you can create a clone of yourself with it, it doesn't matter which technique you use."

x-X-x

It was close to midnight by the time the last light went out in the Third's house. Naruto grinned finally getting to his feet and leaping across the street. He carefully got one of the windows opened and dropped inside as silent as a thief. A ninja thief.

Naruto tip-toed silently down the hallway until the lights suddenly came on. He froze.

"What do you think you're doing in my house at this hour?" Sarutobi's calm but firm voice spoke behind the blond boy.

Naruto did the first thing that came into his head.

"Sexy-no-Jutsu!"

Sarutobi didn't know what hit him. When he finally pulled himself together Naruto was long gone, along with the scroll of forbidden techniques.

"This is bad…" Sarutobi breathed in worry over what Naruto may do with the scroll. He quickly raced out his home and headed to the Hokage tower, hoping Seras was still there.

He burst into the Hokage's office and let out a relieved breath at seeing Seras working at the desk.

"You're supposed to knock first." Seras didn't look up as she spoke.

"There's a situation. Naruto's gone and stolen the scroll of the forbidden techniques from my home."

"I see."

Sarutobi paused at Seras' calm and unconcerned reply.

"Then, I take it you have already dealt with the situation?"

"Give me a minute old man. Even I can only do one thing at a time." Seras chuckled.

"This is serious! The chances of Naruto undoing the seal are one in a million, but the possibility exists."

"Anyway, how'd he get the scroll away from you? Did he catch you napping?"

The retired Hokage felt his face warm in embarrassment as he recalled that technique that had left him unable to think of anything but that blond, curvy…Sarutobi had to slap himself to keep his mind from wandering.

Seras blinked and grew really curious.

"It was…"

"Go on."

"He called it…Sexy-no-Jutsu." Sarutobi muttered out.

"Sexy…no…Jutsu…?" Seras looked puzzled before her expression slowly changed to somewhere between surprise, pride and amusement. "Did he sort of hypnotize you?"

"I…suppose you could say that." the embarrassed old man admitted.

"I never thought he'd figure that out by himself!" Seras guffawed. She glanced at Sarutobi before snickering.

"Glad someone finds this amusing." he muttered reaching into his robes for his pipe. He needed something to calm his nerves.

"Don't worry about it old man. It's a natural ability…" She paused as if listening to something only she could hear. "Excuse me a moment." Seras gave him a smirk before she vanished.

x-X-x

Naruto sat back breathing heavily from the exertion of constantly molding chakra for the clone technique he had been learning. He had finally gotten it down and this time he wasn't making zombie-like clones.

A shadow suddenly fell over him and he looked up.

"Found you." Seras folded her arms calmly.

"Ah…Mom?"

"You better have a good reason for breaking into the Third's house and stealing a dangerous scroll." Seras leaned a little closer.

"Err...well, you know ho I'm terrible at Bunshin?"

Seras nodded.

"Well Mizuki-sensei said if I learned the other version on this scroll I'd pass." Naruto rubbed the back of head. "I was going to put it back!"

'Mizuki eh?' Seras thought sensing the incoming barrage of kunai. With beyond human speed she shoved Naruto out the way of the attack and stepped into it. She was slammed back against the little wooden shack as the throwing knives smashed into her, piercing her flesh.

"What? What?" Naruto looked around complete shock. "Mom!"

"I don't believe it! The Fourth taken down with such a simple attack!" Mizuki's voice laughed out from above them in the tree branches. He stood and shook his head at the scene below.

"So that's what's going on." Seras hissed through clenched teeth.

"Naruto! Give me that scroll!" Mizuki beckoned for Naruto to give him it.

"What's going on?" Naruto looked between his mother and Mizuki in confusion.

"Don't give him it Naruto." Seras commanded from where she was pinned to the shack. "He used you. He wants that scroll with forbidden Jutsu on it."

"Naruto, there's no point in you having that scroll. I'll tell you why." Mizuki smirked. He was already thinking of how his reputation would grow by killing the Fourth. He still couldn't believe it, but he supposed anyone could be taken by surprise. "Twelve years ago…you know about the demon fix being sealed, right?"

Seras remained silent much to Mizuki's surprise. He continued anyway.

"Since that day a special law was passed by the Fourth. But this law was to be never mentioned to you."

"Law? What law? Mom?"

Seras lowered her head, as if the pain was too much.

"What is this law?" Naruto shouted.

Mizuki chuckled drawing Naruto's attention.

"The law is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox!"

"What!" Naruto felt his legs buckle underneath him. He fell back to the ground and stared in shock at Mizuki.

"You are the nine tails that almost destroyed this village and left our Hokage a weakened wreck! Look at him! Taken down so easily! That is no Hokage!"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh." Seras' shoulders shook as if she were repressing the urge to howl in laughter. Her chuckles were devoid of any emotion, sounding completely alien, evil.

Mizuki frowned at the unexpected reaction.

"Mizuki…you might have gotten away with just being thrown out the village or jail time for this plot. But now…now you've gone and broken a law I made." Seras raised her head up and sent the teacher the vilest smirk he had ever seen. Seras flexed her body causing the kunai embedded in her flesh to pop out and clatter to the ground. "A law punishable by death!"

She stepped forward and grinned a toothy grin. "I could do with a snack."

Mizuki felt a terror he hadn't known before as the feeling of unnatural chakra covered the area. It was coming from the Hokage he realized. He began reaching for the large shuriken strapped to his back.

"Interesting take on what happened twelve years ago." Seras continued to slowly approach.

Naruto stared at his mother intently hanging off her words. He had never felt or seen her like this. It was strange and scary, but somehow he found no malevolence towards himself and knew he was safe no matter what happened.

"But things didn't happen quite that way."

Mizuki's instincts began screaming that he should run. He threw the shuriken as hard as he could at Seras who just stood still and allowed the weapon to slam into her head. Her head slammed back, but she didn't fall.

"Mom!" Naruto cried out.

"You see the demon fox was indeed sealed in Naruto." Seras stunned the two watchers by continuing to speak with a large shuriken stuck in her forehead. She reached up and yanked it free and tossed the weapon aside. A trickle of blood dribbled from the wound. She glanced proudly at Naruto. "He isn't the demon fox. He's my childe."

Seras turned her eyes back to Mizuki and bared her fangs.

"What are you?" Mizuki gasped at the glowing red eyes that stared at him. He felt as if they were piercing his very soul with that unnatural gaze.

Mizuki blinked and she was gone. His eyes went wide as her voice responded by his ear.

"Me? If Naruto's the jail, I'm the fox's sadistic warden."

Mizuki had no time to react as a powerful hand wrapped around his throat and he was slammed back against the tree trunk hard enough to shake it. Stars flashed before his eyes even as he yelped in shock and pain. His feet slapped against the rough bark, unable to gain any purchase. His fingers tried to prise the grip away from his throat with as much success as he would have trying to bend diamond.

"I really didn't want to expose Naruto to this side of me until he was older…but you've forced my hand. Too bad for you eh?" Seras reared back before sinking her shark-like teeth into the trapped Mizuki's shoulder. He shrieked in agony as she crunched through the bones like brittle toothpicks and fed. His struggles slowly faded and as he grew weaker, Seras released her grip on his throat and left him hanging from her jaws as she finished him off. Once done she snapped her jaws open and the body fell to the ground with sickening crack.

Naruto swallowed his fear as Mizuki's corpse hit the ground. He watched somewhere between horror and wonder as his mother calmly wiped her jaw clean of blood. She turned to regard him, completely looking normal again. She dropped to the ground and approached Naruto slowly.

"Naruto…we need to talk."

x-X-x

"Here you go." Sarutobi handed Naruto a steaming cup of tea. "This will help you relax." He offered Naruto a comforting smile before taking his place in the couch opposite, next to Seras.

Naruto stared into the hot liquid for a moment before glancing at his mother. "Am I?"

"The demon fox? No. You're not." Seras stated firmly. "I sealed it in you."

Naruto's face went into a frown.

"Why?" he asked quietly. "Why would you do that?"

"It was the only way to save the village." She answered. "Only a newborn's chakra coils are capable of adapting to such an amount of power. And I chose you as I couldn't trust anyone else with this power and responsibility. You're a hero."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried to give you a normal life. And partly as a reason to keep what I am a secret. I banned people from taking about that night." Seras admitted.

"What are…we?" Naruto asked after a short pause to contemplate.

"Naruto…are you sure you want to know the truth?" Seras leaned forward. "You might decide to hate me."

Naruto stared into her eyes. He couldn't read what she was thinking, he had no idea what she was going to say, but he knew he had to know the truth. He nodded firmly.

Seras nodded in reply.

"To begin with…I'm neither one of your biological parents." Seras said and gaged Naruto's reaction. He remained subdued, but she could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes. "Your father, the real Fourth tried to seal the demon fox. He made a mistake in the seal and instead of getting the Shingami…he got me."

"To summon the Shingami it costs you your soul. Even though he didn't get the Shingami, he had to give me his soul."

Seras waited till that had sunk in.

"W-where is he?" Naruto asked nervously. He had always wondered who his father was. His mother, no Seras had never replied when he had asked while he grew up. Now he knew why.

"He is a part of me now. Everything he was, everything that made him great is mine." Seras rested back against the couch and looked thoughtful. "It was because of his dedication to Konoha, his love for you and his iron will to face his death to defeat a monster that made me finish his work. Together we sealed the Kyuubi and saved this village."

"He's not dead?" Naruto scratched his head, looking puzzled.

"He lives on inside me and continues to color my actions." Seras smiled gently.

"You're my dad?" Naruto tried to work that out.

"In a way." Seras admitted. "It's partly why I made the law. No one is supposed to refer to me as Minato was. It would confuse you growing up calling a woman Dad right?"

"I guess."

"Also, you must know…only the three of us in this room know the whole truth. Everyone else thinks I *am* Minato. We used the excuse of having to make a large sacrifice to be able to seal the Kyuubi, for my obvious changes. It was troublesome to convince everyone not to elect a new Hokage. But thanks to the old man here we managed it."

"Don't thank me. I had no intention of coming of retirement." Sarutobi smiled when Seras indicated him. "Especially with the paperwork."

"Lazy old fart." Seras joked sticking her tongue out at him. "Anyway, Naruto you have to promise me you wont tell anyone else this."

Naruto contemplated everything Seras had just explained. "Okay…Mom."

Seras was taken aback for a moment, then she smiled a pleased smile. "Thank you."

"Will you teach me how to take a shuriken to the head too?" Naruto asked, suddenly switching tracks. "That was a way too cool Jutsu!"

"That's not a jutsu." Seras scratched her temple nervously as Sarutobi stared at her in surprise.

"You took a shuriken to the head?" the former Hokage questioned.

"I told you I'm hard to kill."

"It was awesome She got like a hundred kunai stuck in her and she just makes them pop out." Naruto gushed. "You'll teach me that too?"

"So it seems." Sarutobi agreed as this was the first time he had heard Seras was capable of something like that. He eyed her and wondered exactly what else she had never revealed about herself. "I take it you can't teach these techniques to anyone?"

"Actually…it is possible. But anyone apart from Naruto would have to die first. Want to learn?" Seras smirked showing her fangs.

"I think I'll pass."

"So I can learn them?" Naruto pondered what would be possible if he could do those techniques. He had images of all the training accident pranks he could pull off. He began chuckling evilly.

Seras and Sarutobi exchanged a concerned glance.

"Most of it comes down to just what we are and willpower." Seras turned to Naruto.

"So, what are we?" Naruto repeated his earlier question.

"I'm a vampire." Seras stated proudly.

"Am I one?" Naruto pointed at himself.

"No." Seras replied. "You're unusual. You're neither a vampire or the child of one and a human. It comes back to how I tried sealing the demon fox. I first tried to spare you and seal it inside myself. That didn't work out as well as I expected. The fox is damned powerful and almost broke free from me. I've never faced anything like it, it was fun."

Seras stared hard at Naruto, who was hanging onto everyone of her words.

"So in the end, we modified the seal, costing another of the souls I have and sealed the fox and part of myself inside you. That is why you are a unique being. You're human but have the power of a vampire. The closest thing to you is a dhampir, but still that's not what you are. Not only that, but eventually, you'll be able to use the fox's chakra for your own uses."

"What does that mean?" Naruto blinked.

"Potentially…you may be the strongest person in this world." Seras grinned and patted Naruto on the head.

"Holy shit!" Naruto swore.

"Well, it is getting too late for this old man. I must get to bed before the sun comes up." Sarutobi excused himself.

"See you later old man." Seras smiled. She was pleased things had gone so well.

Sarutobi made his way to the door. He turned back just before leaving and smiled at the sight of Naruto sitting in the spot he had vacated and chatting excitedly with Seras. She smiled back at him and laughed at something he had said.

'She may not be his original parent, but anyone watching won't know.' he thought finally leaving them alone.

x-X-x

"Okay Naruto. Are you ready?" Iruka asked. The teacher was unsure who was more nervous about the exam. Him or…actually Naruto stood smirking confidently before him.

"I'm ready!" Naruto claimed.

"Okay..." Iruka glanced to his side. The Fourth sat next to him. She had offered to mark the exams after they were a teacher short with Mizuki's betray. Iruka was still stunned that Mizuki had done what he had to Naruto.

"He'll do it." Seras nodded seriously with her arms folded.

"Very well. Create two Bunshin!" Iruka called out and hid his head behind his clipboard.

"Pfft! Only two?" Naruto snorted. "Watch this! Kage-Bunshin-no-Jutsu!"

"Kage?" Iruka glanced over the clipboard at the sound Bunshin's popping into existence.

"Is this good enough?" the classroom echoed with the sound of over thirty Narutos.

Iruka felt his jaw drop.

"I'd say he passes. Don't you?" Seras turned to Iruka.

x-X-x

Just a couple of notes.

I've wanted to do this fic ever since I saw and heard Kyuubi behind those bars, but never had a decent way of making it work. It's been kicking around for years. I believe this is the fourth version after three aborted attempts.

Originally I had Seras absorb Kyuubi and it was her who Naruto drew his power on and nobody would know any different until he began to accidentally create his own family of vampires calling him master. That died fast after two attempts.

Then I thought maybe Seras could replace Minato and raise Naruto. But then Naruto would be pretty much just as he is in the series, no extra perks aside from having a 'dad'.

And the final version is what you see here, pretty much a combination I think can work.

Anyone who's played L4D should recognize Naruto's failed Bunshin.

Sexy-No-Jutsu now creates the appearance of the perfect girl/guy for whoever Naruto directs the technique at, as he can sometime pick up their thoughts.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

* * *

Naruto – Bloodlust

The usual – I don't own em.

x-X-x

Seras raced along the narrow wall at hellish speed. The buildings to either side where little more than a blur in her peripheral vision as she ran past. At the end of the wall she leaped across the street, bounced off the building opposite and back across the street to land on the roof higher up. She continued on not missing a beat. Right behind her, Naruto followed, although he had to leap in large bounds to keep up with her running speed.

They made their way towards the outskirts of Konoha, towards the training grounds. Running and leaping under the pale moonlight of a waxing moon.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination, Training Ground Fourteen.

"Here we are." Seras said after landing just inside the gate. Naruto landed beside her in a crouch. He took a moment to collect his breathing before slowly standing up. He glanced around the training ground.

Naruto had been here before but never at night so it looked a little different in the darkness. Training Ground Fourteen was used mainly for teaching the youngest how to handle and throw various weapons. It was setup with lots of targets; simple dummies in the various shapes. Some human shaped, others just a standard round target with different sized and colored rings.

"I don't see how you showing me to throw is any better." Naruto muttered. "Can't we move straight to the good stuff?"

"This is the good stuff." Seras smiled patiently at Naruto. "Come here. I'll show you."

Naruto didn't look convinced but he stepped up to Seras anyway. She removed a kunai from the pouch she had strapped to her leg, like most of Konoha's ninja. She casually spun it around her finger as she started to speak.

"Up to now you've been taught to throw a weapon like a human ninja. All well and good. But you can do better."

"I don't see how." Naruto pouted with his arms crossed in the way he did whenever he was confused by something and decided it wasn't worth his effort to understand.

"Bah, it's wasteful." Seras snorted. "I've seen how they teach you kids. You're shown how to throw as many as you can in as little time possible."

"So? The faster and more the better right? Makes it harder for your opponent to dodge. That's what Iruka-sensei taught us."

"Yeah, yeah. Forget all that." Seras waved in annoyance. "Throwing hundreds of kunai and hoping your opponent can't dodge that many, or take them. Relying on luck may be fine for ninja and Catholics, but you've got blood descended from the No-Life King himself. You are better than that!"

"No-Life…King?" Naruto eyed Seras with curiosity. "Who's that?"

"My Master." Seras said matter-of-factly.

"Erm…does that means he owns you?" Naruto pondered innocently.

"N…" Seras paused in her denial. She supposed technically he still did until she drank his blood freely. "Err…well…really its more like he's my Dad, I suppose."

"So he's like old?"

"You could definitely say that." Seras smiled.

"Older than the old man?"

"Much older."

"No way! That's impossible!" Naruto stared in disbelief.

"Believe it." Seras grinned back.

"So, would I call him Gramps?"

"Only if you wanted him to rip your spine out and to be strangled with it." Seras remarked casually. Naruto was unsure if she was joking.

"Anyway, enough about family. Lets get on with the learning." Seras stopped spinning the kunai and threw it to hit the bulls-eye with a thunk, on one of the round targets fifty meters away.

"That's not impressive." Naruto scoffed and copied the throw. He hit the bulls-eye, slightly further out.

"You think so?" the vampire took out another kunai. "Copy this." She casually flicked the weapon. Down the range there was a metallic ting and a bright orange spark from metal hitting metal.

"Okay…so you hit the same spot." Naruto frowned taking aim. He threw the kunai and it thudded into the target beside his last throw.

"You think I got lucky don't you." Seras grinned taking two more kunai out. She threw them quickly in succession. There were two rapid tings and sparks in the distance.

Naruto blinked and stared between Seras and the target. Seras turned her back to the target and flicked another kunai over her shoulder, showing off now. Another ting and spark went off. Naruto's jaw dropped.

"No way!"

"Heh. One last example." Seras turned back around and appeared to casually throw another kunai with no effort. This time there was a much louder noise, almost like a crack and sparks flew into the air.

"You…hit it again?"

"Go and take a closer look."

Naruto eyed her curiously before jogging down to the target. When he got there he examined the it and found his two kunai still as they were, but where Seras' first one had been, there was a hole in the target. He stepped up amazed that she had smashed the target with such a weak looking throw.

"Huh?" Naruto paused as he felt something underneath his foot when he put it down. Lifting his foot off what he was standing on he had to draw in a surprised breath. It was half a kunai. He picked it up and stared in amazement at the perfectly sliced down the middle weapon. His eyes went back to the ground and saw the other half.

"No way!" he gaped picking the second half up and placing them together. His eyes widened in surprise as the two halves fit together perfectly.

"Impressed yet?" Seras asked stepping up beside him with a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah…" Naruto dropped the two halves. "But what about moving as well?"

"Pfft! No problem." Seras snorted. She drew out four kunai in each hand, held between her fingers. "I'll even make it harder by using both hands."

Seras took off at a sprint across the target range, throwing a kunai from her right hand as she passed the targets. Each weapon hit the bulls-eye. She skidded, spun around and raced back down and repeated each throw with her left hand. Naruto watched in growing excitement as four tings and sparks went off in rapid succession.

"Good enough for you?" Seras slid to a halt beside Naruto.

"Awesome!"

"Yep. It's even cooler when you attach explosive tags to them. Makes a right bloody mess." Seras grinned. "I still miss my Harkonnen though. He makes a better mess." she sighed forlornly.

"Anyway!" Seras clapped her hands together and shaking off her longing. "Enough of that. Lets get started."

"Right!" Naruto quickly pulled out a kunai and went to throw it at the nearest target. His attempt was halted as Seras wrapped her hand over his, preventing him from throwing the weapon.

"Not that target." she shook her head.

"Then which one?"

"See the one right at the far end?" Seras leaned in close to point.

Naruto glanced up at her before trailing his eyes down the length of her arm and looking into the distance at where she pointed. He squinted, trying hard to see what she was pointing at. Even with his better than average night-vision, he couldn't see anything in the darkness.

"I don't see it."

"That's because you're looking at it like a normal human." Seras explained.

Naruto gave her a confused stare and then turned to squint down the target range. He still couldn't see anything but darkness. Deciding to just throw and hope for the best, Naruto raised his arm again.

"Oh, by the way. To make this interesting…" Seras said suddenly, startling him. "If you miss I'm sending you back to the Academy for another year."

"What?!" Naruto stumbled. He quickly whipped around to stare at his mother in shock. "You can't do that!" He pointed an accusing finger.

"Really?" Seras suddenly leaned in close, her voice little more than a deep a growl. The shadows around her face darkened and her eye color changed to a deep red as they grew cold and hard. She sent Naruto a humorless parody of a grin, over-sized canines showing. "As your parent and the Hokage *I* can do whatever I wish. Are. We. Clear?"

Naruto nodded rapidly in reply at the terrifying visage his mother was showing him.

"Excellent." Seras smiled cheerfully as she straightened up, returning back to normal. She walked over to the closest target and hopped up onto it, to sit with her heels lightly tapping against it. "Begin when ready." she cheerfully said.

It took Naruto a few moments to gather his wits. He licked his lips nervously and stared into the darkness. He readied his aim and squinted. He still couldn't see it. He continued straining to see anything in the darkness in distance.

After straining for nearly five minutes Naruto had to blink his dry eyes. He glanced over at his mom.

"Trouble?"

"Ah…no!" Naruto lied turning away and beginning to strain his eyes again. The darkness stubbornly refused to clear. Annoyingly, Seras began humming tunelessly to herself. It was very distracting. Naruto felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck from the pressure. His arm was beginning to get that tired ache from holding something up for a long time.

"Mom? There's no way I can even see it!" Naruto sagged.

"Giving up?"

"No! Give me a hint."

"Okay, stop trying to see it and see it."

"Eh?" Naruto's eyebrows went into an on it's side 's' shape, showing his confusion.

"Aim as if you have a third eye. Throw it with the knowledge that you *will* hit the target." Seras explained cryptically.

"Third eye?" Naruto scratched his head as he turned to look back down into the darkness. He wondered how that was supposed to help. He only had two eyes.

"Reach into yourself and pull out your true power. Don't use chakra. There is no molding involved. This comes naturally to you." Seras calmly continued. "You can feel it in every cell, every fiber of your being. It is you."

Naruto stared ahead, finding Seras' voice soothing as she talked him through it. Something stirred. It wasn't a feeling like molding chakra, there was no flow, no gathering; it just existed. A deep well of otherness that felt eager to be used. All his senses seemed to slowly, like a person rising from a deep slumber, awaken.

He could feel the minute breeze on his face in every detail. Feel his own heart beating, the rush of oxygen being drawn into his lungs and picked up by his blood and carried to be used to release energy.

"You can see the target. It cannot hide from you. You know exactly where it is." Seras told him and felt a jolt of excitement flow through her as Naruto's eyes changed. From the pupil out over his eyes flushed red, in darkening rings.

The darkness before him seemed to flow away, parting like stage curtains, or as if it were afraid of him. His vision seemed to zoom in on the fleeing darkness until it revealed the target at the far end of the range; just over a thousand yards away but as if right before him.

With a growing excitement, Naruto raised his weapon. The hunt was over, he had his prey! He grinned.

Seras leaned forward, her excitement growing as well, her eyes matching Naruto's.

Naruto flicked the kunai forward with a supernatural grace and strength. The throwing knife flew straight and true. It slammed into the target and continued on through, only stopping as it embedded itself into the sand bags stacked up against the far wall.

Naruto blinked, his eyes returning to normal the inverse of their transformation, the red sucked away, like water down a plughole and his pupil was the plughole, as he realized he had done it.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered, leaping into the air and pumping his fist. "I did it! Did you see that?"

"Yes I did." Seras pushed off the target and walked over. Naruto met her half way in a tackling hug. "Hahaha! That was amazing!"

"Yep. I'm proud of you." Seras returned the hug.

'Damn relived to.' she mentally admitted as a part of her that had been on edge relaxed.

'The seal held.' Minato's voice stated in her head. 'I wasn't sure how it would react to your sort of power.'

'I know. I really wish we hadn't had to test this so soon.' Seras replied. 'I wanted him to stay innocent for a little while longer.'

'It had to be done eventually.' Minato spoke sagely.

'Yeah.' Seras agreed thinking on her own abruptly ended childhood. 'I blame you for making me feel this way.' she grumbled.

'Keep telling yourself that.' Seras could feel him smirking away.

"Okay Naruto. Practice for a while hitting the targets furthest away. Then do some moving attacks." Seras spoke out loud.

"Right!" Naruto stepped back and saluted, before rushing off to practice.

She watched Naruto practice for the next few hours. He raced up and down the range hitting targets. He soon began experimenting with leaps and rolls, even silly contortions just to see how far he could push his new abilities.

All too soon, the horizon began the lighten, the first sign that dawn was approaching. Seras watched on curiously as the first calls of nearby cockerels were picked up by her sensitive ears. As the sun peeked over the horizon she called a halt to the exercise.

"Naruto! Collect your weapons and come over here!" Seras called out.

"Okay!" a fairly out of breath Naruto replied. By the time he had retrieved his kunai the sun was starting to climb. The day was promising to be bright and sunny. Seras grimaced at the thought and ignored the growing brightness of the morning.

"So what now?" Naruto asked putting the weapons back into the pouch and hidden pockets carefully.

"Draw on your power now and tell me how you feel."

Naruto looked up curiously at her before doing as she asked. He frowned as the power didn't want to come, it seemed to resist him. He struggled with it for a while until finally he regained that state.

"It's…way…harder." Naruto continued frowning, struggling to hold the power.

"I expected as much." Seras nodded, her thoughts confirmed.

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto lost his concentration and it slipped away, fleeing away deep inside him.

"It must be the sun." Seras indicated the rising ball of light. "Only powerful or old vampires can stand to be out in it. Seems it even affects you. I thought the unusual sealing might do that. Your power will be weakened during daylight hours."

"Aww man." Naruto sighed.

"I wouldn't worry." Seras patted his shoulder. "The fact you could use it at all just now shows eventually it won't matter. But for now it'll be hard to use during the day. You'll just have to work on it."

"Let's head home and get you some breakfast." Seras decided turning to leave.

"Can we go get ramen at Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked jumping to land beside his mom as they began walking away.

"You…want ramen for breakfast…" Seras frowned at the disgusting thought.

"Heh, heh, heh. Yeah!"

"Fine. Just this once *you* can have it." Seras sighed.

"Awesome!"

"There's something else I need to say. It's both good and bad." Seras stated as the walked along. Naruto quickly looked up at her.

"What?"

"The good thing is when you use your power you don't use chakra."

"So…I don't need to use chakra?" Naruto pondered.

"That's right."

"What's the bad?"

"When you use your power you don't use chakra." Seras repeated.

"Eh?!"

"As I understand it, chakra is your spiritual energy mixed with your physical energy. It's very definition is life." Seras explained. "A vampire's power is the complete opposite. It's an utter absence of life. Don't ask how that works as I've no idea." Seras held her hand up to stop Naruto asking the question she could see on his lips. "I've never bothered to think too deeply on it. It just does for whatever reason."

"Oh…"

"Unlike me, you're capable of using one or the other freely, but I seriously doubt at the same time. They just aren't compatible." Seras crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "You'll have to careful to use the right one for the situation. I suppose we'll have to work on getting you capable of switching between them quickly."

"What do you mean unlike you?"

"I can't actually do ninjutsu." Seras replied.

"What?!" Naruto froze in surprise. Seras kept walking along as if nothing had happened.

"Wait! What do you mean you can't do ninjutsu? You're the Hokage!" Naruto raced to catch her up.

"Exactly what I said. I have no chakra to use."

"But…but I've seen you do stuff, and you can do the Hiraishin-no-Jutsu!"

"You mean rapid teleporting? Natural ability." Seras grinned. "Not my fault everyone thinks it's the same thing."

"But…you can stick to walls and leap far!"

"All natural. Or supernatural whichever way you look at it." Seras laughed.

"But…" Naruto scrunched his face in concentration. "What about the sealing?"

"Ah, trying to catch me out?" Seras smirked. "I had help. Your Dad did that for me."

"So you can!" Naruto pointed.

"It's not that I can't use chakra. I know a lot of techniques from your Dad and…others. It's the fact that I don't have any of my own. If I want to use ninjutsu I need to take chakra from feeding. Okay, remember don't say anything about this around other people." She indicated the fact the streets were beginning to fill with the morning traffic.

"Okay."

They took their time heading towards Ichiraku's. Seras was often stopped to have a quick chat with the people on the street. She greeted them, listened to what they had to say and made mental notes about anything that needed to checked up on later. As Sarutobi said, a good Hokage would have time to listen to even the lowest of villagers.

"Naruto." Seras leaned down to whisper in the boy's ear during a quiet moment. "Try practicing to feel what people are feeling around you. Try to draw a tiny amount of power to help you."

Naruto spent the rest of the journey trying to access and hold onto a small amount of the power from inside himself. He wasn't having much success, as nearly every few feet something would distract his attention and the power would flee and hide from the light. By the time they reached Ichiraku's, Naruto was getting frustrated.

"Argh! I can't hold on to it long enough!" Naruto exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"Don't worry about it." Seras patted his head and lifted one of the banners out the way.

"Heya Teuchi-san! Gimme the ramen special!" Naruto forgot his lack of success in a flash and as quickly was up and sitting on a stool. He grinned up excitedly at the owner.

"If it isn't my favorite customer!" Teuchi replied sending a friendly smile in greeting. "I'll get…" he trailed off as he realized who had just sat down next to Naruto. "Oh…oh my!" he quickly smoothed down his apron. "Good morning Hokage-sama. Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar." Teuchi finished with a polite bow.

"Good morning." Seras greeted Teuchi and studied him as she got comfortable. He had one of those open and friendly faces, slightly overweight. She immediately classed him as the friendly uncle type. "Naruto is certainly enthusiastic about this place."

"He's one of my best customers." Teuchi smiled.

"Yeah! And I'm hungry too!" Naruto hinted cheerfully.

Teuchi laughed and called out. "Ayame! Two house specials! No skimping! Naruto's brought a guest!"

"Naruto!" Ayame poked her head out from the back and waved at the blond boy. "Who's your…Hokage-sama!" she quickly bowed in surprise.

"Hey." Seras waved in greeting. "Teuchi-san, just a one for Naruto, thanks."

"Oh no! I can't let someone as important as yourself leave on an empty stomach."

"Sorry, I'll have to pass. A lot of food makes me ill." Seras excused herself.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Teuchi's face went thoughtful. Serving the ninja of Konoha, he had often heard all the rumors about the Hokage. From the outlandish that she was an otherworldly impostor, or that she should be dead with the damage to her chakra system from the demon fox. To the more mundane, that the poisonous chakra had weakened her immune system and she had to have regular medical checkups and sometimes even blood transfusions.

"Is there anything we could make you that won't?" he asked politely.

'*This* is why I hate taking Naruto out to eat. Everyone tries to get me to eat something.' Seras grumbled keeping her face pleasant. Sometimes keeping up appearances was a chore.

"Fresh, weak and unseasoned tomato soup." Seras pulled out the old reliable, if disgusting choice. "Failing that just a glass of water."

"I'll knock you some right up!" Ayame stated cheerfully setting off on her task.

"Thanks." Seras replied, struggling to not reply through clenched teeth. She could feel a certain Frenchman laughing at her.

"Oi! Oi! Enough about my mom. Look at me!" Naruto loudly said with his fingers holding onto the top and bottom of his new Konoha forehead protector. He wriggled it to emphasize it even further.

"So you did pass!" Teuchi smiled studying Naruto's forehead protector as worked.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun." Ayame smiled over at him as she continued preparing Seras' order.

"With flying colors!" Naruto stated smugly.

"Actually, you finished dead last." Seras corrected him.

"What?" Naruto spun on his seat to stare. "No way! After acing the Bunshin test!"

"Yes way. You had the worst scores in chakra control, taijutsu and genjutsu. Your ninjutsu, aside from Kage-Bunshin is only average." Seras ticked off her points.

"I…"

"Slept through classes. Goofed off and tried to grab everyone's attention through pranking. I do read your report card you know."

Naruto pouted. "Well, if you had trained me-"

"I have a Hidden Village to run, that takes up a lot of my time. If you had accepted that and paid attention in class like everyone else, until I had the time, you wouldn't have ended up dead last. I was waiting till you got older for family techniques due to the dangers involved."

"You weren't busy all the time…" Naruto grumbled staring at the bar top.

"I'll admit I wasn't always there, but there are certain needs I have to take care of. And I didn't have a…great example set as I grew up." Seras sighed. "And remember the tutor that was arranged that you blew off?"

"He was scary…" Naruto shuddered. "Creepy glasses guy…"

"Ebisu would have taught you well. He was highly recommended."

"He hated me." Naruto eyed Seras out the corner of his eyes. "I could tell."

"He still would have trained you for me."

"Yeah, for you." Naruto mumbled quietly.

Seras sighed.

"You know what? Let's agree to disagree." she squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"Here you are Naruto. One ramen special!" Teuchi slid a larger than normal bowl to Naruto who immediately perked right up.

"Oh wow!" he exclaimed in awe before diving in with gusto.

Seras watched him start to devour the food with growing interest. She rested her elbow on the bar top and placed her chin against that. A bittersweet smile grew on her lips.

Naruto paused mid slurp, noodles hanging from his lips as he felt her eyes watching him. He turned to face her and quickly sucked the noodles up.

"What?"

"Oh, I'm just a little jealous of you, you know."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Yeah. You get all my advantages and can still eat whatever you want."

"Oh yeah, the whole vampire thing." Naruto casually remarked.

*Thud*

Seras' chin slipped off her hand in surprise and she ended up slamming her head against the bar top.

The blond boy suddenly realized he hadn't been meant to mention that at the silence that had descended on the bar.

"Na…ru…to…" Seras hissed.

"Naruto! That isn't a very nice thing to call your mother!" Ayame scolded.

"I meant she's like a vampire…err…cause she sucks." Naruto tried to recover and made the situation worse as Ayame went pink in the face. Teuchi nervously tried to look busy.

Seras was glad she didn't blush anymore, which made keeping a straight face easier. She lightly slapped him across the back of his head, knowing he didn't know how that had sounded.

"Moron."

"Eh, heh, heh." Naruto rubbed the spot nervously.

"Here's your soup." Ayame slipped the bowl of soup in front of Seras without making eye contact.

"Thanks…" Seras gave as pleasant a forced smile as she could. She stared at the soup as if it were a venomous snake. Actually, she would have preferred the snake, at least it would have had blood. Deciding that getting it over with quickly would be best she picked the hot bowl up with her hands and gulped it down in one, suppressing the urge to gag at the taste of the soulless liquid. It sloshed around and laid heavily her stomach making her feel queasy.

Ayame and her father exchanged a look that said 'now I know where Naruto gets it from.'

"Oh my, you must be hungry." Ayame began spooning more into Seras' empty bowl. "A good thing I made plenty more."

"Gee, thanks." This time Seras did reply through clenched teeth, watching the bowl get refilled with a twitching eye. The peanut gallery in her head was snickering away at her misfortune. With a sigh she picked up the spoon and began slowly stirring the soup. She would have to make it last until Naruto was done so no more was put in.

Luckily for her, Naruto began to weave a tale of how cool his Mom's training was, somehow managing to remember not to mention vampires at all. This kept Teuchi and his daughter's attention away from herself.

As she stirred the soup, Seras' senses picked up a familiar person approaching and she almost groaned, but caught herself. The closest banner was lifted aside.

"Good morning Hiashi." Seras stated without turning to look.

"Greetings of the day, Minato." Hiashi Hyuga responded as all eyes turned to stare. "Your ability to tell who is there without looking is…uncanny. One would *almost* think you had eyes in the back of your head."

"It's a gift." Seras turned on the stool to face him, glad for the distraction, but also wishing it had been anyone else. The Hyuga clan head was dressed in his usual robes. He regarded her with pale eyes. The first time Seras had actually seen a Hyuga's eyes she had thought them blind, but Minato's memories and her following experiences showed her they actually saw far better than anyone else. They saw enough to know certain things about her weren't right.

Hiashi gave the faintest of nods before his eyes turned towards Naruto.

"Hiya Hinata! Hiya Hinata's dad!" Naruto greeted through a mouthful of noodles. Seras almost burst out in laughter at the stern and disapproving frown Hiashi sent towards Naruto, but somehow managed to keep her face neutral.

"Ahem." Seras cleared her throat.

Naruto glanced over at her and saw the disapproving look she was giving him. He glanced at Hiashi's stern expression and realized he'd messed up again.

"Umm, good morning Hiashi-sama. Good morning Hinata-chan." Naruto tried again.

"Better." Hiashi stated. "Good morning Naruto-kun." He gently prodded Hinata by his side when she didn't speak.

"G-good m-morning N-Naruto-kun." the timid girl spoke in barely more than a whisper. After speaking she went silent again, eyes down towards the ground. Hiashi prodded her once more after a moment.

"I-I made this f-for you." Hinata held her hands out and head down as she presented a little bento for Naruto.

"Cool!" Naruto took the offered food. "Thanks Hinata. I'll have this for dinner!"

Hinata averted her eyes, finding the ground very interesting as she stepped back beside her father. She wrung her hands.

'Oh Naruto. You really need to start paying attention to things.' Seras thought watching the byplay. 'Hiashi you're far too transparent.'

"Hey! Do you guys want breakfast too?" Naruto had an idea. "Teuchi does the best ramen ever!"

"We have already partaken in breakfast." Hiashi responded smoothly.

"Oh? Too bad." Naruto said sadly.

"So, what brings you out so early, Hiashi?" Seras asked, already knowing the real answer.

"I was taking Hinata to get her registration photograph taken. Seeing you here I thought it polite to say hello."

"Really? The pair of you are awfully far out of your way if you're heading there." Seras pointed out.

"I thought it prudent for Hinata to have all new equipment for this next stage of her life." Hiashi responded without hesitation. "Our order was ready to be picked up. Wasn't it Hinata?"

"Y-yes Father." Hinata made a nervous fumble at showing off a brand new pouch that rattled with weapons. It even had the price tag still on it.

'One thing with Hiashi, his schemes are lame, but he does plan them out well.' Seras thought.

"What a coincidence." Seras exclaimed. "I need to take Naruto there today as well."

"Really?" Hiashi tried to sound as if he wasn't expecting that. "Then I would be honored to escort your son and yourself there."

'Suck up.' a French accented voice stated in Seras' head.

'Shush Pip.' Seras sent back as she slid off the stool.

"If it's no trouble." Seras replied aloud.

"No trouble at all." Hiashi nodded.

"Thank you for the food." Seras turned to Teuchi and Ayame. She laid a handful of ryo, enough to pay for twice as much food on the bar. "Keep the change."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Teuchi bowed. "It was an honor to have you visit this humble restaurant."

Seras smiled and gave him a nod. "Come along Naruto."

"Sure!" Naruto quickly gulped down the remains of his ramen.

The group of four left the ramen bar behind as they headed towards the Hokage tower where the registration of the latest batch of genin would take place. Seras and Hiashi walked at the back with Naruto in front of Seras and Hinata in front of her father.

"I heard of your incident with Mizuki." Hiashi said soon after they set off.

"I think most people have by now." Seras replied. Naruto glanced back at Hiashi curiously. "I was actually surprised at him turning traitor." Seras continued. "But, then again, we never did have much contact."

"Yes, sometimes it is the least likely ones." Hiashi turned to Seras. "You apparently did quite a number on him."

"He did break the law I made, threatened Naruto, and most of all attacked me. I had to make an example."

"I trust you didn't strain your injuries." Hiashi almost allowed a hint of concern to enter his voice.

"My 'injuries' don't bother me. You know I've learned to work around the…chakra problem." Seras responded.

"That unique power of yours." Hiashi nodded. He felt a phantom itch in his eyes at the thought of the Hokage's way around her injuries. Trying to watch her chakra flow when she did use it was a strain, not in seeing it, but the way it happened. The way her burnt out and undernourished chakra coils would twist and deform as she performed techniques that should be impossible for her now, made his eyes ache. All made worse by the fact she physically appeared dead on the inside. No one knew why she still lived and her only explanation as to how, was the seal on Naruto.

"Speaking of which," Seras smiled slyly. It was time to put the cat among the pigeons. "I've begun Naruto's training in it. It's looking very promising."

"Really?"

"Yes. Isn't that right Naruto?" Seras smiled at him.

"Yeah! It's awesome! Mom showed me how to see a target miles away perfectly in the dark!" Naruto cheered. Hinata stumbled in surprise for a moment before sending a surprised look Naruto's way.

"R-really?" Hiashi turned to stare. Seras could see exactly what he was thinking by the minute tightening of his eyes.

"Not quite, the distance was only about point six of a mile." Seras remarked casually.

"I…see." Hiashi sounded calm, but Seras' hearing could pick up the minor wobble in his voice. He was perturbed, though hiding it well. "What was it like Naruto?"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked thoughtful. "It was, like I just knew where to look to see the targets. No matter where they where."

Hiashi appeared thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again.

"Naruto. Hinata. Would you two go ahead and get the registration photographs sorted." It wasn't a request.

"Y-yes F-Father." Hinata responded meekly. She glanced over at Naruto. Naruto looked to Seras.

"Go on. I'll be there soon." she told him. "I have to be there all day to complete the registrations anyway."

"Right! Come on Hinata, lets go!" Naruto raced off. With her eyes down, Hinata followed.

"How long have you had this…ability?" Hiashi asked once the fresh genin had gotten out of earshot. He sounded displeased.

"As long as I've been this way." Seras replied, technically without lying. She just left off what this way meant.

"And you conveniently forgot to mention it to us?"

"I don't believe I have to let the Hyuga know *everything* about myself." Seras replied.

"I suppose not." Hiashi still sounded annoyed. "It would have been…polite…to mention this to us, your largest supporters. Must I mention the various parties who would have you replaced because of your perceived illness? An emerging bloodline such as this would go a long way to stilling those lips."

"Feel free to mention it now." Seras smirked. "Mizuki's betrayal has forced my plans for Naruto forward by at least three years." She admitted with a sigh. "I had hoped to have my replacement trained by then so I could dedicate my time fully to his training."

"Will this cause you trouble?"

"I'll deal with it if it does." the Hokage stated firmly.

"This ability…" Hiashi began after they had walked in silence for a few minutes.

"It's not like yours." Seras smirked up at the Hyuga clean head knowingly.

"I'll need more than that to…calm nerves." Hiashi looked at her.

"Basically, you want to know everything about it and whether it's a threat to your position of greatest eye technique eh?"

"…" Hiashi didn't reply.

"Okay, okay." Seras laughed. "I'll tell you. I can see as clear as day even in total darkness. If I need to, I can 'see' anything within a range of myself. I can't see chakra or people's inside unless I rip them open. I can't copy techniques. I don't have three hundred and sixty degrees of vision. It's more like I have a third eye that can be moved around, but needs to be focused towards what I wish to see. Clairvoyance."

"Interesting." Hiashi mused. "And Naruto has this ability?"

"As I said. It's looking promising." Seras nodded.

"What range do you have?"

"I've reached five miles out. No further."

"Hmm." Hiashi thoughtfully studied the current Hokage. Gears were turning in his head. Five miles out wasn't an impressive distance for a fully trained Hyuga, but if this was only the beginning. "I would be interested in seeing a demonstration."

'Of course you are.' Seras thought amusedly.

"Someday."

"It would be interesting to have a blood test done on Naruto."

"Hoping to find a similar set of genetic markers so you can claim we're an offshoot?" Seras asked with a sly smile.

"Did you think upon my recent proposal?" Hiashi asked, ignoring Seras' insinuations. The Hokage tower came into view as they turned into the street it was at the end of,

"Yes." Seras resisted the urge to sigh.

"And?"

"The teams have been chosen."

"And?" Hiashi repeated.

"Geez, you don't give up." Seras grumbled. "Fine, Team seven will consist of Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke. It is actually an interesting combination of skills and potential."

Hiashi nodded. Aside from having his daughter on the same team as the Uchiha, he was pleased.

"And what about the other?"

"Look, Hiashi." Seras halted and glared. "You're really pushing it. I don't like the idea. Hinata's on his team and that's as good as you'll get. If anything comes from it, so be it, but I will not force two people to be together against their wills."

"I accept that." Hiashi said calmly, unmoved by the glare. "Might I ask who you picked for their Jounin teacher?"

"He's my student and the only one capable of giving Sasuke the training he'll require."

"I…see." Hiashi frowned openly, not liking that one bit. "I hope he won't play favorites."

"I promised him if he did, he'd suffer a fate worse than death." Seras stated evilly.

"Good enough." Hiashi replied after a brief moment of feeling a strangeness from the Hokage. "Hinata will be in good hands then. I'll be able to concentrate on her sister's training."

'Translation; I'm shipping off the disappointment onto someone else and hoping she'll catch Naruto's attention to gain even more status in the village.' Pip's voice snorted.

'I'd shush you but you're right.' Seras mentally sighed.

They covered the final distance to the Hokage tower in silence. Once inside Seras made her way to the assignments office, where the registrations would take place. Hinata and Naruto were the first there and had already gotten their photographs taken. Seras quickly examined Hinata's first and signed the registration card off.

"Congratulations on passing Hinata." Seras handed the shy girl her card.

"T-thank you." she took the card and walked back towards her father, who stood sternly by the door.

Seras then picked up Naruto's and paused as she studied the photograph. Her eyes went wide before narrowing as she lowered the photograph and stared at Naruto in annoyance.

"Heh, heh. What do you think? It took me ages to get the expression right." Naruto grinned like an idiot.

"Naru…to…" Seras sighed. "You look like you're constipated." She flipped the photograph around to show him. On the photograph, Naruto was shown trying to grin evilly with his lips pulled as far up in a twisted smile as he could. He failed miserably.

"No way! I copied you!"

"Take it again…" Seras groaned tossing the photograph away and rubbing her forehead. 'Typical!'

"But!"

"Now!" Seras shouted slapping the desk loudly, standing and pointing angrily. With a yelp Naruto raced out to retake his picture.

x-X-x

"Stupid Mom! Why'd she get all upset with my cool face?" Naruto complained though mouthfuls of food from the bento Hinata had made for him. "Do you know Hinata?"

"N-no N-naruto-kun." Hinata replied quietly looking anywhere but at him as they sat on the little stone bench in one of the small parks. She nervously fidgeted, pushing her fingers together.

"I don't get it." Naruto muttered finishing off the last of the food. "That was nice! Slight aftertaste but still great!" he gushed. "Not as good as ramen but right up there! Like second place."

"T-thank you." Hinata avoided his eyes.

"Yeah, you make a great-" Naruto cut off, sensing someone approaching from behind him.

Naruto turned to looked around. Hinata also looked over her shoulder. They both pulled 'you got to be kidding' looks at seeing the cardboard box painted to resemble a rock with two eye-holes cut into it.

"…" Naruto stared before getting up. "Who do you think you're fooling Konohamaru?" he shouted, pointing at the box.

"As I would expect from my rival!" Konohamaru lifted the box off himself. The youngest Sarutobi kicked it away after standing. He posed as if getting ready to spring forward in an attack. "Face me and die!"

"C'mon man…" Naruto palmed his face. As much as he liked Konohamaru like a little brother, the boy did go over the top. He didn't realize how ironic it was for him to be thinking that.

"I must first defeat you to prove my strength before I face the old man and take the Hokage title from him!" Konohamaru informed Naruto.

"You do know my mom is Hokage right?" Naruto pointed out.

"Your mom's scary!" Konohamaru shuddered before pulling out two foam shuriken. "Take this!" He leapt towards Naruto. Unfortunately for him, he tripped over his overlong scarf and ended up planting his face in the grass.

Naruto sighed.

"As expected from my rival." Konohamaru spat out grass and pushed himself back up.

"Why're you after me now?" Naruto walked over and helped him up.

"The old man said you defeated him and I'd have to beat you first, bro." Konohamaru stated wiping his knees.

"Oh! Did he now…"

"So spill! Teach me how to defeat him!"

"Hmm, you really want to learn?" Naruto looked thoughtful.

"There you are young master!" Ebisu landed lightly behind them, startling them both.

"Creepy glasses guy!" Naruto pointed.

"Naruto…kun." Ebisu pushed his glasses up, a sign he was annoyed. Ebisu turned away from Naruto. "Young master, come along. You'll never beat your Grandfather unless you listen to my advice and undertake my training."

"Heh, heh, heh." Naruto chuckled, trying to mimic his mother's soulless laugh from when she faced down Mizuki.

Ebisu turned curiously back to Naruto.

"Konohamaru. I'll show you how I defeated the old man!" Naruto exclaimed pointing at Ebisu. "By defeating creepy glasses guy!"

"Oh really?" Ebisu smirked and assumed a ready stance. 'A chance to show the demon brat how much he's missed by not taking my training.'

Naruto began gathering his chakra.

"Sexy-" he broke off as a very loud gurgle was heard, emanating from his stomach. His eyes went wide in shock and clutched at his midsection. 'Oh god! Diarrhea!' Naruto thought in terror. He turned and fled towards the nearest toilet.

Ebisu blinked behind his glasses and wondered what Naruto was doing as the boy vanishing into the distance, running like he was squeezing his buttocks tightly together.

"Very odd." The Special Jounin scratched his chin. "Oh well." he shrugged and placed a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and led the boy away. "Come along young master."

Hinata watched Naruto flee into the distance before slowly bending down to pick up the discarded bento box. She replaced the lid carefully and was about leave when a shadow fell over her.

"Hinata. Hi."

The Hyuga girl went rigid as she recognized that voice.

"H-h-hokage-s-sama." Hinata turned and tried to control her breathing. Seras smiled humorlessly down at her.

"I know you resent how much pressure your father is putting on you to…seduce Naruto; but this is the very *last* time you'll try putting laxatives into his food. Are. We. Clear?" Seras growled.

"Eeep!" Hinata folded in on her self in terror. She tried to nod, but remained frozen.

"Naruto is too forgiving and doesn't pay enough attention to notice what you're doing. He isn't the one to be taking your anger out on. Okay?"

"…" Hinata managed to give a tiny nod.

"Glad we understand each other." Seras patted her on the back. It wasn't comforting to the terrified girl. The Hokage then vanished, fading away and leaving Hinata alone with her thoughts.

x-X-x

The next day dawned bright and early. Naruto happily made his way to the academy, thankful his sudden bout of diarrhea had cleared up. He decided he must have eaten something dodgy, but couldn't figure out what it had been.

Naruto entered the classroom proudly and took a seat. He grinned away to himself until hearing the voice of the girl he liked.

"Hey Naruto."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned happily to face the pink haired girl.

"Could you move?" she asked politely.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. Looking at Sakura he could see her eyes were focused past him. Turning around to look why he saw she was staring at the Sasuke guy.

'Him again? Why is he so popular?' Naruto wondered before having to yelp in surprise as Sakura barged past him.

"Sasuke-kun! Can I sit next to you!" Sakura planted herself on the bench and shifted closer to Sasuke.

Naruto frowned and pulled his head up. He stared at Sakura making a fool out of herself as Sasuke completely ignored her. He really would like to know why everyone liked the Uchiha. A grin suddenly spread across his lips.

'Surface thoughts eh?' Naruto thought. He glanced sneakily around the class before focusing his attention on Sakura. He reached for the power he had spent the night previous practicing with. It took some coaxing to bring it out with the sun being in sky, but eventually Naruto succeeded. His eyes changed.

'Come on, feel what she's thinking?' Naruto frowned in concentration. It was doubly hard to focus his power while he had to fight to keep it from fleeing the light.

Sasuke kept his eyes forward and elbows rested on the desk, lost in thought. Sakura inched closer and he spared her a glance from the corner of his eyes, judging whether she would gather the courage up to annoy him further. He spotted Naruto squinting at the girl with blood-red eyes.

'Wonder what the moron is think-' Sasuke quickly spun to look at the blond boy in shock. 'The Sharingan! Impossible!'

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gushed and acted embarrassed when she thought the Uchiha was looking at her. She got in Sasuke's way, preventing him from seeing Naruto's red eyes.

Naruto suddenly heard something. It sounded like Sakura's voice echoing in his head. Before he could think he bellowed out what he heard.

"Today I'm going to get Sasuke-kun! And I'm going to steal his first kiss!"

The whole class turned in surprise and stared at Naruto who stood with one fist raised in the air. Naruto blinked his eyes blue and stared around as people began whispering about him. He didn't need to read their thoughts to realize how he had just sounded.

"Naruto's being creepy again."

"Oh god! He's gay!"

"How dare he try going after Sasuke-kun."

Naruto dropped into his seat and tried to hide in utter embarrassment as the class whispered in disgust about him. He buried his head under his arms.

"Okay everyone settle down!" Iruka's voice called out as the teacher stepped into the classroom. The fresh Genin all quietened down. "Starting today, you are all Shinobi…but you are still Genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just begun."

"Now, you will soon begin missions for the village." Iruka stated proudly. "So today, we will be creating your three man teams. Each team will be assigned a Jounin sensei. You will have to follow your sensei's instructions to successfully complete your missions."

"Now, we tried to balance each team's strength. I will call out the teams." Iruka explained before starting to call out the teams. Naruto paid little attention, still too embarrassed to look up until he heard his name called out.

"Team Seven, Hinata Hyuga! Namikaze Naruto!"

Hinata groaned and hung her head. She knew her father had arranged this.

'Hinata eh?' Naruto glanced over at the Hyuga. She avoided his eyes. 'She's always so shy.'

"And Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka finished.

All the other girl's eyes turned to glare at Hinata in jealousy. Hinata tried to hide in her jacket.

"Iruka-sensei! Why do I have to be on his team?" Naruto exclaimed.

"I thought you wanted to steal his first kiss?" somebody nearby mocked in a fake girly voice and the class began laughing at Naruto. Before Naruto could shout in response Iruka explained loudly.

"Sasuke's grades were the best of all twenty-seven graduates. Yours were the worst. We *do* have to balance the teams remember."

There was more laughter.

"Okay! Enough!" Iruka quietened them all down. "This afternoon we'll introduce your Jounin-sensei. Until them take a break."

x-X-x

"Stupid. Stupid." Naruto grumbled as he stood in the hallway. "Why does stuff always backfire on me?" He had had to flee the class in embarrassment. Instead of finding out why girl's liked Sasuke so much, he had made a complete fool of himself.

So deep in thought he never sensed Sasuke's approach until the Uchiha roughly spun him around to face him.

"What?" Naruto blinked.

"You!" Sasuke growled, twisting Naruto's orange sleeve in his grip. "How do you have those eyes!?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "What eyes?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, tightening dangerously. He pushed Naruto back until the other boy was pinned against the hallway wall.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Sasuke growled getting Naruto's face. "I saw it!"

"Saw what?"

"The Sharingan!" Sasuke let go of his sleeve and slammed both palms to either side of Naruto's head. "How do you have my family's eyes!"

"I don't know what you're on about!" Naruto growled back his eyes flickered red for a moment, long enough for Sasuke to notice.

"Those eyes!"

"Nooooooooooo!" two female shrieks of complete and utter hopelessness came from down the hallway causing both boys to turn and look. It was Sakura and that Yamanaka girl. Both had gone pale and dropped to their knees. They looked ready to cry at the sight of Sasuke staring deeply into Naruto's eyes. "Why is it always the cute ones!?"

Sasuke glared at the girls in annoyance. He couldn't care less about what they thought. "Naruto-" Sasuke turned back to find Naruto gone. He whipped around to see the blond boy racing off down the hallway.

"Get back here dead last! I'm not through with you!" Sasuke gave chase.

x-X-x

Much later the newly dubbed Team Seven sat alone in the classroom. Naruto and Sasuke both looked worse for wear, both scuffed and dirtied from their altercation. Hinata sat slightly away from them and kept her head down.

Every other team had been collected by their Jounin-sensei aside from themselves, and all three were getting annoyed at waiting.

Naruto suddenly stood up and walked over to the door. He slid them apart and stuck his head out looking up and down the hallway for their mysteriously late sensei.

"Why is out sensei so damned late?" Naruto growled. He stepped back and folded his arms. "All the other teams have gone. Even Iruka-sensei has left." He pondered the situation. Time for a little Prank-no-Jutsu he decided looking at the blackboard eraser.

"Heh, heh, heh." Naruto chuckled placing the eraser in between the door so it would fall on the next person's head who walked through.

Sasuke kept his head down, staring at his hands. He hadn't gotten anything out of Naruto, but he would.

Hinata sat and stared at the desk, depressed at her father's obsession at getting her married to Naruto for the 'benefit of the clan'. She sighed.

"That'll teach them for being late." Naruto stated.

"No Jounin would fall for that Naruto-kun." a polite male voice stated beside him.

"Wanna a bet?" Naruto replied before he realized he didn't recognize that voice.

"What!" Sasuke sprang to his feet in shock as he did recognize the voice.

Hinata looked up and flinched in surprise, having not realizing someone had snuck up on them all.

"Who?" Naruto cranked his head around and up to stare at an almost spitting image of Sasuke. An older Sasuke with funny red eyes and slightly sunken cheeks.

"Itachi!?" Sasuke gasped. "What the hell? What are you doing here?"

"Foolish little brother." Itachi turned smoothly to regard Sasuke. "I'm your Jounin-sensei by the Hokage's appointment."

"You're our sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes." Itachi turned back to Naruto, fixing him with his thousand yard stare.

"You're late!" Naruto bellowed pointing at the elder Uchiha.

"Foolish little Naruto." Itachi intoned. "I was here all the time. None of you noticed my presence. My first impression of you all is…you're weak."

End Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

**Konoha's Demon**

I don't own Naruto. Please don't take seriously...

Sarutobi strode purposely, if somewhat tiredly, down the darkened corridors of the Hokage's tower, still decked in his shinobi battle gear. What time was it? He wondered while suppressing a yawn. He was tired like he had never been before, and for the first time felt older than his fifty three years of age. What a dreadful night it had been for the Leaf.

Demonic chakra induced fires still burned in the village. The thick black, greasy plumes of smoke carried the stench of death from the recent attack by the Kyuubi. The monstrous fox had appeared from nowhere, and without warning, to lay waste to nearly half the village.

Hundreds of civilian and shinobi casualties had been taken in the surprise attack, the hospitals were all full and many of the victims were being treated in the streets where they lay, if they were even gotten to in time.

Nothing they threw at the monster stopped it, until the Fourth had sacrificed himself summoning the Death God and sealing the demon inside a newborn, his own son. The village had been saved, but at the cost of their greatest warrior and leader and now Sarutobi found the task of leadership thrust back on his shoulders.

He silently cursed the demon and that damned council for dragging him out of retirement.

"But Sarutobi-sama, theirs no one else capable of the job! The Fourth had not even begun training a successor!" Sarutobi grumbled away to himself, imitating the nasal voice of one of the council members. "Bunch of twits. Bickering away amongst themselves while the village still burned. Those headless chickens could have been doing something useful instead of plotting their next political manoeuvre."

Sarutobi sighed, his expression as dark as the corridors he walked.

"Bloody fox! Bloody council! Bloody Minako, Kami have mercy on him, but still getting himself killed!" Sarutobi grumbled. "Oh, and lets not forget...look after my legacy old man! Let the people see him for the hero he is! I'm too old to be raising a brat."

"Hmm?" Sarutobi paused. There was someone screaming nearby, a female high-pitched shriek of untold terror. Of course, there were screams still being heard around the village, but this sounded as if it was in the tower itself.

The screaming continued and became louder, having a curious Doppler type effect, actually, it was coming closer to the soon to be reinstated Hokage.

A dark-haired woman belted around the corner and continued running, and screaming at the top of her lungs straight towards the Hokage. Sarutobi absently wondered how she managed to keep shrieking like that and supplying her body with oxygen as she put many ninja to shame with her speed.

With perfect timing the Hokage sidestepped the woman and grabbed one of her flailing arms, pulled gently on the limb, sending her spinning towards him, where upon he caught her gently, bringing her to a halt.

"What is going on here?" Sarutobi asked the terrified woman, who he recognised as the same one he had instructed to take care of young Naruto while he slept through...erm...dealt with the council.

"DemonBoyNotdeadKillusall! Wah!"

"Wha?" Sarutobi blinked at the woman's words came out so fast they jumbled together forming a lump of gibberish. He caught the word demon and not dead, and he guessed she had heard from someone the boy had the demon sealed in him. Damn, when he found out who said that he'd deal with them most harshly.

"Now, now. The Kyuubi is gone." the Hokage reasoned calmly, hoping to calm her down. His words had the opposite effect. At hearing the name of the fox demon she burst into another shriek and tried to escape Sarutobi's grip.

"Itstilhere! Itstryingtofinishthejob!" she began beating at his arm hysterically.

"Calm down!" Sarutobi commanded using his Hokage voice to no effect. Sighing he let go of her. The woman fell to the ground, before scrabbling away on all fours.

Sarutobi ran a confused hand through his rapidly greying hair. Now what exactly was that all about? The Kyuubi was gone, sealed away into the newborn, even its terrifying aura was gone…so what exactly had set her off so badly?

Putting the woman's scared words and fear down to an after effect of the Kyuubi attack, since he could no longer sense any sign of the Kyuubi's chakra, Sarutobi mentally decided to get the woman the counselling she needed before continuing on towards the Fourth's…no his office. He had placed the boy in there and under the watchful eyes of some of his most trusted surviving ANBU, just in case.

Not that he expected anyone to try and take revenge against the boy. That would come later on he knew. But at least for now the boy should be safe...

Sarutobi drew to halt and stared at the scene outside his office door.

The two ANBU he had ordered to watch over the boy were both peeking into the room beyond and had their weapons drawn. The taller, silver haired one was looking through the small opening of the doorway they had cracked open to peer in. Kakashi, Sarutobi instantly recognised him by his trademark hair…how he expected anyone not to recognise him with that hairstyle, the Hokage would never know.

The other was crouched down and staring intently through the lower half. Neither of the pair seemed to be aware of him.

Sarutobi frowned at the sight and wondered what they were doing. Not bothering to hide his presence the Hokage approached them. His frown deepened as neither reacted to his presence even when he made sure to take a heavy step to alert them.

The Hokage paused behind the two and waited…and waited some more. Finally he grew annoyed and curious enough to clear his throat theatrically. Both ANBU flinched in surprise and shock and their trained reflexes took over.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is…" Sarutobi caught the two kunai thrown at him by Kakashi and effortlessly deflected the sword strike with them the other ANBU used. "Going on here? Hmmm?"

"Hokage-sama?" Both breathed a sigh of relief, before stiffening as they realised who they had just attacked.

"Well?" Sarutobi asked dangerously staring at the two before him. "You are aware that attacking your Hokage is an act of treason." He let the threat hang in the air as the pair shifted uncomfortably.

"Forgive us Hokage-sama." Kakashi stated from behind his wolf mask. "We were…more than a little worried…"

"Does this have anything to do with a terrified nanny?"

The pair glanced at each other before Kakashi continued. "Yes sir. She went in there and then…well…we felt the Kyuubi's chakra. She fled in terror and we…" Kakashi gave an embarrassed cough. "…kind of froze."

"The Kyuubi?" Sarutobi asked reaching out with his senses. He could not feel anything. "Are you…certain? I don't feel its presence anywhere.

"Yes sir." The other ANBU answered, still holding his sword. "It was unmistakeable…and in the room. We feared for our lives."

"The Kyuubi, a thirty story tall monster was in my office? Really Hayate." Sarutobi dead-panned and eyed the pair. "The boy inside there had it sealed inside him. Sealed." Sarutobi put emphasis on the sealed part. "It cannot escape."

"We both felt it sir. I…I think it might be taking the boy over…"

"Oh stop this foolishness!" Sarutobi snapped, his patience stretched to the limits after the hell of a night they all had just had. "Even if the damned fox could do that, it's trapped in the body of a newborn! What's it going to do? Gurgle threateningly? Wave a limb or two around? Dribble uncontrollably and evilly?"

Even if he could not see their faces, Sarutobi could see they both were embarrassed behind those masks after that verbal lashing. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head.

"Now, if you to will step aside…" Sarutobi stated stepping forward. Kakashi and Hayate moved out of his way as the Hokage passed them, looking every bit the leader once more. "I suppose I better check up on the child." He handed the two kunai back to Kakashi. "Just think, if what you believe was actually true…" Sarutobi fixed Hayate with a stare. "I'll be the first person in history to change the Kyuubi's nappy!"

The Hokage brushed past them and pushed the door fully open, allowing him to step inside the office. The average sized room was how he had left it before the council had been called. The large couch facing the larger desk with the wicker basket sat upon it, the one that contained the 'Kyuubi'. Sarutobi snorted looking around before he flicked the light switch on the wall hopefully. When the lights did not turn on he sighed, obviously it was too much to hope that the electricity was back on yet.

Sarutobi wandered further into the office heading towards the basket. He paused feeling eyes upon him and turned back to face the doorway. Two white porcelain masks peered carefully around the door frame.

"Yes?"

"Be…be…c…careful Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi rolled his eyes and shook his head at the incredulity of the situation, two of his best ANBU afraid of a child. The Hokage chose to ignore them for the moment and crossed the final distance confidently.

He halted, seeing the abandoned baby bottle lying on the floor full of milk. He bent down and picked the bottle up off the ground and placed it carefully onto his desk.

Sarutobi focused a small amount of chakra to his finger tip and a small flame burst into life, burning just above his finger. He then lit the couple of candles on the desk, the ones that had been hastily placed there while Minako worked on the seal while the Kyuubi had attacked.

Behind him, he sensed the pair had gotten brave enough to enter the room. He felt the air being displaced as they quickly leapt into carefully chosen positions, tactically analysed and chosen so they could guard him…

Or not. Sarutobi sweat-dropped after turning around to find the pair were now peering over from behind the large couch. Turning away from the pair, Sarutobi promised to send them on a really annoying mission once things settled down. Yes, that will teach them.

The Hokage walked over and stared down into the basket. Little Naruto was laid in the basket sleeping like a little angel, tiny hands curled into cute little fists and held by his cheeks. There was no sign of anything odd about the child aside from the strangely whisker like markings on the child's tiny face.

"So this is the terrifying Kyuubi eh." Sarutobi smirked down at the newborn sleeping soundly and lightly placed a hand to the child's forehead. The boy was surprisingly warm to the touch, which caused a slight concern to flow through the Hokage. Hopefully the child was not sick.

When the Hokage was not killed in a variety of nasty ways, Kakashi and Hayate slowly stood up and exchanged a wary glance. The pair approached carefully until the stood beside the Hokage and stared down. Naruto shifted slightly but remained asleep.

"Well." Sarutobi stated pulling his hand back. "Looks like you two were wrong."

"But…we both felt it." Hayate stated. "Right Kakashi?"

"I…well I guess." Kakashi answered now unsure of himself.

"Oh yes, little Naruto here is a dangerous monster." Sarutobi rolled his eyes once more. He picked the bottle off the desk and held it toward Hayate.

"…" Hayate stared. "Sir?"

"Seeing as you believe the boy is being taken over by the demon fox, you can be the first to feed him." Sarutobi stated seriously.

"Feed it?"

"Of course. Just wake him up and stick the rubber end towards his mouth." Sarutobi continued his voice icy.

"Me?" Hayate squeaked.

"Of course you. You're supposed to protect your Hokage correct." Sarutobi did not give him chance to answer the rhetorical question as he forced the bottle into Hayate's hands. "And if the child truly is the Kyuubi like you say, you'll be killed instantly and will also have done your duty in protecting me from the most powerful and evil entity in the world."

"Good luck." Kakashi offered taking a step back while the Hokage mumbled something about idiots and reached into his armour and retrieved his pipe. He really needed a smoke to calm his nerves after all this idiocy.

Hayate swallowed behind his mask and turned to the sleeping Naruto, who he was certain only a few minutes before had be projecting the Kyuubi's unmistakable evil aura.

Reigning in his worry, Hayate forced himself to be calm and went to follow his Hokage's orders. He slowly lowered the bottle towards the child. Hayate did not realise it but he was holding his breath as the rubber teat brushed the child's lips, causing a faint reaction from the newborn. Little Naruto's hands twitched and his fingers wiggled slightly. A tiny baby frown went across his face and he slowly opened his eyes.

Hayate froze.

Kakashi froze.

Sarutobi dropped his pipe in shock as the feeling in the room changed. The air seemed to darken and become heavy as a massive aura of killing intent sprung up, the source the basket on the desk. The Kyuubi's aura.

No one moved. No one dared breathe as the feeling of dread, fear, doom and the promise of pain grew. Even Sarutobi found himself struggling to control his fear.

_This is the Kyuubi! Kami! Minako what did you do wrong!_ Sarutobi managed to think.

Hayate found himself unable to tear his eyes from the large blue orbs that baby Naruto was looking at him with, taking the full brunt of the evil arua. Baby Naruto blinked once, twice before he instinctively opened his mouth to feed on the offered bottle.

That was it. The moment Naruto's mouth opened it was too much for Hayate. He found himself staring down the pink gumless pit of pure evil that was coming to swallow him alive. He was unable to look away from that toothless mouth. He felt like his heart was going to burst any second. Absolute panic and terror ran through him, he could not breathe!

Finally it got too much for the ANBU, and Hayate's eyes rolled up as he began making choking noises behind his mask before collapsing backwards into a boneless heap.

Baby Naruto blinked as the source of food was removed. He did the only thing he was capable of. He cried.

"Waaaaaaaa! Waaaa! Waaa!"

The noise broke the tension, and Kakashi's control over his bladder as the noise was enhanced by the evil chakra to produce the scariest sound ever heard by man. A baby crying.

Ignoring the wet patch on his pants, Kakashi forced himself to turn to the Hokage. He did have a duty to protect the man.

"H…hok…hokage…sam…sama…we must…huh?" Kakashi stuttered and paused in shock at seeing the area the Hokage should have been was vacant. Spinning around he saw the most powerful man in the village sprinting out the office at high speed leaving them to fend for themselves as that hideous and terrifying noise continued.

"Waaaaaaaaaa!" went the siren of DOOM.

Kakashi almost followed in the Hokage's footsteps, but one thing stopped him. The words he drilled into his head day after day. Those that leave their team-mates are worse than trash.

The copy-ninja grabbed the unmoving body of Hayate and slung him over one shoulder before fleeing.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"It's stopped." Sarutobi whispered as he and Kakashi pressed themselves against the wall outside the office.

"You're…right." Kakashi agreed as the cries had finally stopped. Beside them, slumped against the wall where Kakashi had placed him, Hayate sat slumped over, still unconscious.

Sarutobi braced himself and slowly leaned his head around the doorframe.

"Be careful sir!" Kakashi hissed.

Inside the office was now quiet and the aura of killing intent gone. In fact it seemed as if nothing had happened. If he had not witnessed himself, Sarutobi would not have believed the story.

"Maaa, maaa. I can't believe we got out of there with our lives." Kakashi sighed sliding down the wall until he was seated and removed his mask, revealing his normal face, well the normal mask he wore.

"I think, once the child sleeps the Kyuubi has to as well." Sarutobi spoke quietly. "The chakra only appeared when the child was woken up."

Kakashi glanced up at the Hokage. "Then now's our chance. We can kill it while it sleeps. Fire would be good."

"No."

"I'll get the petroleum and…what?"

"No we won't kill it, not until I'm sure what is going on. I need to know how that blond idiot cocked up a simple sealing." Sarutobi told him. "I knew I should have done it…"

"But the fire…we could kill it with fire."

"No!"

"How about just a little fire?"

"Shut up and see if you can wake Hayate." Sarutobi growled.

Kakashi sighed before pushing away from the wall so he could crouch before the slumped Hayate. The copy-nin shook Hayate by the shoulder.

"Hey wake up."

No response, aside from Hayate's ragged breathing. He sounded like he was having trouble breathing, almost asthmatic. Kakashi reached over and removed the ABNU mask and gasped in surprise drawing Sarutobi's attention to the prone form.

"What the…" The Hokage trailed off seeing Hayate's face. Where before Hayate had been blessed with a perfect tan and looks that got all the girls, his skin was now sickly pale, his eyes sunken and had large dark bags under them. He looked positively ill Sarutobi thought.

"It must have sucked the life right out of him…" Kakashi whispered. "Are you sure you don't want me to kill it?"

"For the final time no!"

"Urrgg…" Hayate groaned as he slowly came back to life.

"He's turned into a zombie!" Kakashi stated pulling out a kunai, only to have the weapon smacked out of his hands.

"He's not a zombie." Sarutobi sighed.

"cough cough what happened?" Hayate asked blinking.

"That is what I want to know." Sarutobi replied. "What do you remember?"

Hayate thought back to his most recent memories and gulped. "The…the…cough cough"

"The?"

"Those hideous cough cough gums! It tried cough cough to eat cough cough me!"

"Technically it would have tried to suck or gum you." Kakashi stated.

"Shut up Kakashi." Sarutobi sighed and decided what he was going to do. "I need to check the seal…before this goes any further. Wait here, if I don't return…"

"We can kill it with fire?"

"Fine…" Sarutobi sighed as he stepped lightly into the office once more. Using his full arsenal of stealth techniques the Hokage made his way through the office.

A jump to the book case, before he henged into a book. After a few seconds to make sure he was not spotted by the baby, the book transformed back. Sarutobi dived across the room, ending in a forward roll, before he did a quick replacement with the chair behind the desk.

Kakashi and Hayate were now once again peering around the doorframe watching the Hokage's progress.

Sarutobi's head slowly appeared above the desk, his eyes shifting left then right. When he was certain he had not woken the sleeping container he rose smoothly to his feet and stared down at the baby.

Once again, little Naruto was asleep, looking completely normal. He did not appear to be the killing machine they had all felt mere minutes before.

Steeling himself, Sarutobi reached a hand out towards the child. It took all his willpower to lay his palm against the child's tiny stomach and focus a small amount of chakra into his palm. The seal appeared on little Naruto's belly and Sarutobi leaned over to get a closer look.

_Hmm, everything seems as it should be…I think_, Sarutobi thought seeing as no one had ever attempted to seal the Kyuubi before. _Minako used this to allow the Kyuubi's chakra to mix with…oh you blond prick!_ Sarutobi exhaled seeing one tiny piece of the seal was drawn just slightly too large. _You forgot to limit it properly! How many times have you been told MORE POWER is not the answer? And your handwriting is as atrocious as ever…so…the child is not the Kyuubi, just you've let too much of its power run through the boy._

Sarutobi sighed and dropped back into the chair behind the desk in relief. Or he would have it he had not just used the said chair for the replacement technique. The Hokage fell on his ass.

"Sonovabitch!" Sarutobi swore loudly rubbing his bruised posterior and froze as the aura of the Kyuubi sprang back up. "Oh…shit…"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The Hokage felt the terrifying aura of fear wash over him.

_It's not the Kyuubi. It's not the Kyuubi. It's not the Kyuubi. It's not the Kyuubi._ He repeated over and over in his head while forcing himself to stand.

Kakashi and Hayate both flattened themselves against the wall as the aura and noise built up.

"I've…soiled my armour…" Kakashi admitted.

Sarutobi wanted to flee with all his being. The noise was terrifying…that was it! The noise was causing more fear! He had to shut the baby up. But how?

Seeing the bottle on the desk he had a ahha moment. Grabbing the bottle he pushed it before the crying baby who clamped down on it and began suckling away happily.

With little Naruto now happily feeding, the killing intent faded to more manageable levels for a ninja such as Sarutobi, who let out a sigh of relief at the lowered pressure. The aura remained, but he was capable of ignoring it…mostly.

"Kakashi! Hayate!" Sarutobi shouted. "Quickly inform the council I have to call another session!"

"B…but…sir!" Kakashi managed to stutter. "What about you?"

"He's just a baby. That blond twit messed up the seal and little Naruto here can't control the killing intent yet." Sarutobi shouted. "I'll be fine. Go!"

"We can't leave you to the demon's mercy!"

"Oh for the love of…" Sarutobi growled and lifted Naruto out of the basket and held to baby up for them to see. Unfortunately this caused the Hokage to drop the bottle to use both hands.

Naruto erupted into cries once more, the full effect of the fear was sent straight at Kakashi and Hayate.

Both ANBU's eyes rolled back into their heads and they fainted.

"Well damn…" Sarutobi stated as he was left holding the Kyuubi's prison and frozen by the fear.

Author Notes.

Well damn indeed. I've had this crackfic tumbling around my head for a few days and finally decided to try and write it, hoping it'll kick-start my writing once again.

What if the seal had been messed up and the only person that ended up not afraid of him was the Hokage?

Inspired by a really funny manga of misunderstandings called Angel Densetsu, I've never lol'd so much from a manga before :P

**Chapter 2**

The crazy continues…I still don't own Naruto.

It had been a week since the nine tailed fox Kyuubi had attacked Konoha, almost leaving the hidden village of the Leaf in ruin. It had been a long and sorrow filled week, burying the dead, beginning the rebuilding of the village, trying to keep up a strong front despite the damage.

A week of making public appearances for the Hokage, to try and instil a sense of moral in the people he ruled over.

A week of mourning.

A week of trying to keep Naruto's uncontrollable ability a secret…

A week of no sleep for one very weary Hokage, who was now wishing he had been the one to make the sacrifice for his village. Having a newborn to look after is tiring enough, but the fact that this newborn scared the bejesus out of Sarutobi every time he opened his innocent eyes was far, far worse.

Sarutobi sat in his chair, in his office, filling out the mountains of paperwork that were required so that building materials could be ordered, labourers paid etc. Now this was one thing he had not missed from this job of ruling a hidden village.

Off to his right, on a little table lay baby Naruto, still in a basket. Sarutobi took a moment off the paperwork to check the child, making sure he was not about to wake up anytime soon. Not that anyone within ten feet of him could miss the boy waking up. Hell no. Not with the powerful aura of fear he projected unconsciously whenever he awoke.

Thankfully, the boy was definitely not the Kyuubi, no matter how it felt just being near him when he awoke. Sarutobi had invalidated that theory easily enough, especially as he was still alive after being in the child's presence for an entire week…an extremely tiring week.

Unfortunately for our Hokage's frazzled nerves, he had been unable to get rid of…ahem, find the child a home. Every attempt so far had pretty much gone the same way…

xXx

Three day earlier…

"Ahhh it's good to see you Fugaku, despite the circumstances." Sarutobi greeted the Uchiha clan head as he entered the office. Beside the strict looking Uchiha clan head stood his eldest son, Itachi. The five year old stood and stared around the office in childish awe.

"And little Itachi too…" Sarutobi smiled comfortingly towards the boy keeping his true emotions off his face. _Oh, bugger this could go bad_, the Hokage thought to himself concerned. _If Naruto wakes up it could scar the child for life…and ruin any chance of getting rid of him._

"It's good to see you are still looking well my Hokage." Fugaku nodded. "These are unfortunately trying times. The damage done is tremendous. And to lose the Fourth. Troubling times indeed." The Uchiha clan head shook his head in concern.

"Indeed." Sarutobi agreed leading the father and son Uchiha combination into his office.

"Wow! This is the Hokage's office!" Itachi grinned enthusiastically while he continued examining the room.

"It certainly is young Itachi." Sarutobi said ruffling the boy's hair. "I'm sure you'll be seeing this place a lot more often, with the grades you have."

"Itachi is indeed gifted." Fugaku smiled proudly and not a little smugly. Itachi grinned at the praise and attention. He was a good boy!

"In a few years, Itachi will be after your job." Fugaku joked semiseriously. Yes he had high hopes for Itachi, now all the boy had to do was calm down and act more like an Uchiha. He was just too boisterous sometimes, and he had to break him of that habit of picking flowers and playing with the girls…the boy was too damned feminine for his own good.

"Well then…" Sarutobi grinned removing his hat and placing it on the boy's head. "Hmmm, it's doesn't fit yet. But I'm sure he'll grow into it. He's welcome to it in a few years."

"Cool! I'm a Hokage!" Itachi grinned from under the oversized hat. He pushed it backwards so he could see out from it, while bouncing excitedly on his toes.

"And a fine Hokage he'll make too." Fugaku nodded to himself. "Now to the reason we're here Hokage-sama. It is an honour to be allowed the chance to be considered to look after and raise the orphaned son of the Fourth."

"A true tragedy, poor little Naruto will never know his parents. But still, he will know of the parts they played in saving our village in its darkest hour." Sarutobi sighed. "Come, I'll show you the child."

The Hokage led the Uchiha's across the office to the table set aside for little Naruto.

"The boy is sleeping at the moment, which is…lucky." Sarutobi stated carefully as they stood around the sleeping baby's basket. Inside the basket, a little wrapped up bundle, topped with a wild spiky bond head of hair, slept Naruto.

_Please don't wake up…please don't wake up…Once they agree to take you on their honour they can't back down_, Sarutobi prayed to any entity that would hear him. Even if he was sweating bullets internally, his face remained smiling and calm. A Hokage had to be able to hide his emotions after all.

Fugaku leant down to examine the child. Sarutobi felt his as if his heart was in his throat when Itachi placed his hands on the edge of the basket and stood up on his tiptoes to get a good look at the baby.

"He takes after his father in looks…a mini fourth." Fugaku stated seeing the family resemblance. He straightened up and looked to Sarutobi. "If he has half of his father's potential he would make a power addition to any clan."

"True. True." Sarutobi nodded sagely while mentally cursing Itachi. _Get your hands away from the basket brat!_

"I take it, there are others interested?"

"Yes, many of the most _important_ clans are interested in raising the son of Konoha's Yellow Flash." Sarutobi stated stressing the word important, as the two men began wandering away so they could talk in private.

"Hn." Fugaku hummed. _So, the Hyuuga are interested. I don't like the idea of them raising someone who has the potential to become a Hokage by blood. It would grant them higher standing than the Uchiha._

"The timing is unfortunate, as my wife and I are expecting our second child any day…"

"Did I mention that all the Fourth's techniques that he had written down will be given to the boy to do with as he wishes?" Sarutobi interrupted, sweetening the deal.

Fugaku's eyes widened. The Sharingan combined with the Hiraishin no Jutsu would be unstoppable!

_Hook, line and…, _Sarutobi mentally grinned.

Unfortunately for our wily Hokage, that was when the brown stuff hit the proverbial fan.

A few moments previously, young and curious Itachi stared down at the blond baby curiously. _So this could be soon be my little brother eh?_ Itachi thought reaching a hand out. _He looks just like the dollies me and my friends play with. I wonder what it feels like?_

Itachi poked Naruto in his stomach area lightly. Naruto's tiny face scrunched up at the stimulus, before blinking awake. The massive wave of the Kyuubi's killing intent flashed across the office like a tsunami, Itachi being closest, took the full brunt of the fear aura.

It is said, that the members of the Uchiha clan that develop the Sharingan do so when faced in a life or death struggle. To young Itachi, he was staring death in the face, and he had blond hair and blue eyes.

Itachi's eyes widened impossibly large before turning red, three black tomoe appeared in each iris almost instantly afterwards and began spinning wildly. Taking the blast of fear full on had awakened the boy's Sharingan. Too bad for Itachi, with the Sharingan activated everything seemed to slow down, the affect of the fear that should have lasted a few seconds before he passed out now lasted far, far longer and he would remember it in every millisecond, in every little minute detail.

Naruto blinked curiously. Above him was that shape of the food bringer, the one with the weird shaped head. That was good, that meant food!

"Hehahs…" Naruto gurgled cutely and happily towards the food bringer.

To Itachi, that cute gurgle was the most terrifying sound he had heard in his short life. As he stared with his new Sharingan vision, he could make out the colour of Naruto's chakra which was leaking off the baby and hovering above the basket. It was red and shaped like an evilly glaring fox.

"_**I sense that thrice cursed Uchiha blood!"**_ an evil voice growled angrily in Itachi's head and more killing intent was directed at the poor boy. Children are remarkable adaptable, any adult that had that much evil aura thrown at them may have died on the spot. Not little Itachi though, although he felt his mind shatter into a thousand tiny fragments.

Sarutobi flinched as the aura washed over the office, for the third time that day he forced himself to remain calm and collected. It was only the boy. He had to do something quickly to salvage the situation.

"F…Fu…Fugaku, let me…"

Fugaku did not hear the Hokage attempting to speak; no all he knew was the demon fox was in front of him. His Sharingan was activated and he stared straight towards the basket, where he too could see the red chakra, the red chakra shaped like the Kyuubi.

"Uchiha and children first! Flee for your lives!" Fugaku shouted before diving headfirst out the nearest closed window to get away from the demonic fox, never mind the fact that it was only the size of a teddy bear floating above Naruto's basket. Too bad for him the Hokage's office was on the top floor of the tower.

"Oh no…" Sarutobi palmed his face, too annoyed to remember to be afraid. He quickly rushed over to the shattered window and looked down. Fortunately for Fugaku, the ANBU guarded the Hokage at all times and were able to be landed on as the Uchiha head fell from the top floor. Luckily he and the unfortunate sod he landed on did not break anything too badly and only had to spend a couple of months in hospital.

"You dozy jackass…" Sarutobi sighed turning back. Well, looks like he had to go back to the drawing board. He froze in worry see Itachi was still stood before Naruto, stock still. "Oh Kami…"

The Hokage carefully approached, keeping his nervously fidgeting fingers hidden behind his robes just in case the boy finally snapped.

"Itachi?"

No response. Sarutobi waved a hand in front of the Uchiha's face. Nothing.

"Oh dear…" Sarutobi sighed. Great, the eldest son of the pompus Uchiha's was comatose, he'd never hear the end of this. Just a fine way to end the day.

"Ahah!" Naruto agreed. _Feed me funny shape!_

Sarutobi felt the spike of killing intent that he had come to recognise meant that if he did not feed Naruto soon, the child would begin twisting, which would make the pressure worse. Quickly the Hokage moved over to get the prepared baby bottles and proceeded to feed Naruto.

"Excuse me Hokage. Where did my father disappear to?" Itachi spoke slowly and calmly causing Sarutobi to blink in surprise.

"Itachi? You're okay?"

"Yes." The boy replied emotionlessly as the Hokage looked over at him. Itachi raised the Hokage's hat, which was still on his head, with one thumb. With the Uchiha high collar clothing he wore and the over sized Hokage hat, only his eyes were seen. Sharingan eyes.

"Itachi…" Sarutobi breathed feeling a chill and not from his proximity to Naruto.

"My father." Itachi stated in a cold voice that made even Sarutobi think twice about upsetting the boy.

"He…dived out the window…as you can see." Sarutobi indicated with his free hand. Itachi turned his head slightly to see the shattered window.

"I see. The coward." Itachi turned back to the Hokage, removed the Hokage hat from his head and placed it on Sarutobi's desk. "Excuse me."

Sarutobi watched in wonder and worry as the boy calmly walked away. However, he could not let the boy leave without being sure he was okay.

"Itachi! Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Itachi paused at the door and glanced over his shoulder, one Sharingan eye visible. "I am fine Hokage-sama. I must leave; I have need to test my capacity."

"Ummm, sure." Sarutobi agreed as the boy left the room.

xXx

Sarutobi shook his head to clear the memories. Damn it, he was drifting off…was that a sign he was getting too old? At least Itachi was okay, different than before, but it wasn't like the boy had turned in a mass murder or anything as unlikely.

Putting the Uchiha's from his mind, Sarutobi began running through the remaining clans he could try to foist to child off to. Unfortunately word had gotten around the village now about the demon child.

"Damn it all." Sarutobi sighed dropping his head onto the desk. "There's no one left that would take him…" the Hokage began lightly banging his head against the desk in frustration. "…and I can't just let him be killed. Damn my conscious!"

He paused for a moment in head banging to look at the clock on his desk. The council meeting would be starting soon.

"Where the hell is Kakashi? He's over two hours late? He's never late!"

xXx

"Oh hello there little black cat crossing my path on our way though the journey of life!" Kakashi greeted the cat happily, wasting more time. So far he had spent the entire journey towards the Hokage's tower doing little odd jobs, helping that nice old lady carry her bags, cutting the lawn for that guy, helping that new ramen stall get set up.

Yes, life was good.

Especially if he was sooooooo late that the Hokage was forced to find someone else to baby-sit while he had that council meeting.

And so began Kakashi's chronic lateness.

xXx

"You called Hokage-sama?" a random ANBU asked as he appeared before his Hokage.

"Yes I did." Sarutobi stated from behind entwined fingers, held just under nose in a pose that he hoped conveyed the seriousness of the situation. "Kakashi has not turned up to baby-sit for me. Quickly find someone to replace him."

"Forgive me Hokage-sama…but baby-sit?" asked the confused ANBU.

"Yes for Naruto here."

"Nar…oh!"

"Indeed, oh."

"Find anyone willing to do this task. It will be paid at A-rank mission rate." Sarutobi stated. "Would you be…interested?"

"Ahhh…sorry…I have to…do my hair! Yes hair!" the ANBU quickly excused himself.

"Oh." Sarutobi's face fell. "Too bad. Please find someone for me…but not Gai!" the Hokage quickly added. "He's still having reconstructive surgery for his face after the last time."

Who could have guessed that the overflow of chakra little Naruto possessed had to be bled off everyday, otherwise the aura got worse. Now, if somebody trained in chakra control had excess chakra they could just use it up and get rid of the excess.

Now a baby had no way of doing that consciously. Therefore, Naruto's body dealt with the excess automatically and by itself. If normal baby nappies are nasty, Kyuubi chakra filled ones are far, far more insidious. Let's just say that his nappies were classed as hazardous materials and the ninja technicians were coming up with all kinds of amazing weapons the toxic-waste could be turned into.

The first nappy Sarutobi had changed nearly seared his sense of smell for an entire day. He would gladly have taken pepper-spray to the eyes than change another Naruto nappy. Fortunately he had found a gas-mask tough enough for the job.

The other chakra bleeding technique had been a bigger surprise and maybe more dangerous.

Sarutobi had just finished feeding Naruto while explaining to Gai what was wrong with the seal.

Gai having heard what had happened to Kakashi in a stroke of brilliance, decided to see Naruto and prove he was tougher than the one-eyed ninja. Gai not only had weathered the child's scary aura well, he had even decided to go one step further and took Naruto from Sarutobi to help.

"Do not worry Hokage-sama! I Maito Gai shall wind the child using all my skills! I shall prove that my fires of youth burn brighter than my rivals!" Gai exclaimed starting to pat Naruto gently on the back. After a few moments Naruto's little face scrunched up as a strange feeling rose inside him.

"Ha aha! Any second now Hokage-sama." Gai exclaimed just seconds before Naruto belched huge demonic chakra flames, setting Gai's head and the ceiling alight. Sarutobi had just managed to dive across his desk and catch the child as Gai dropped Naruto and ran around the office screaming.

xXx

Half an hour later there was a polite knock at Sarutobi's office door.

"Come in." The Hokage called out, but not loud enough to wake Naruto.

The door opened and in walked Morino Ibiki, the special Jounin in charge of interrogations. Sarutobi felt his eyebrows rise in surprise. Ibiki was the last person he expected to see.

"I heard you needed someone to look after the…boy." Ibiki stated with a smile. His scarred face turned a normal smile into an evil sadistic smirk.

"Yes I do, Ibiki-san." Sarutobi said standing up while the tall Jounin crossed the office to stand before the Hokage.

"I heard all about the boy from various sources around the village. Some are claiming he's the demon." Ibiki stated. "With what happened to Hayate, Gai and Fugaku…there are so many conflicting stories flying around. The only thing consistent is the overwhelming aura of fear."

"Yes, yes. I've heard the rumours…" Sarutobi groaned. "And despite what you may have heard, this child is the Kyuubi's prison, not the damned fox. The Fourth managed to seal the demon inside the boy, although the dozy twit messed up slightly."

Ibiki raised a single eyebrow at that.

"It's nothing to worry about." Sarutobi added quickly seeing Ibiki's expression change. "But it does mean the child projects the Kyuubi's terrifying aura when awake. I hope he learns to control it as he grows up."

"Interesting." Ibiki pondered rubbing his square jaw. "May I wake him?"

"Wake…him?" Sarutobi repeated, very slowly as if he had trouble understanding what Ibiki was asking. "You want to wake him up?"

"Yes. If the aura is a frightening as I've heard…the boy could be an asset to my team." Ibiki told the Hokage.

Sarutobi paused in thought. That sounded like a pretty good idea. If Ibiki chose to take the boy under his wing…he could be rid of the child and Konoha may just get a perfect interrogator. What better person to interrogate someone than someone who could scare a person just by breathing.

"Feel free." Sarutobi nodded. "Just be careful."

"I shall Hokage-sama." Ibiki agreed and wandered over to the basket. The big, trenchcoat wearing man gently reached down into the basket and lightly rocked Naruto.

Sarutobi braced himself. As he expected the aura sprang into existence suddenly. The oppressive, powerful and doom filled aura weighed down upon the room. Sarutobi held his breath as Ibiki stood still, hanging over the basket.

Ibiki began shaking before finally breaking the silence.

"Yeeeeeesssss. Thaaaatss it!"

Sarutobi blinked. _What the devil?_

"That's the feeeeling I'm aaaaaftteeerrrrr!"

Ignoring the powerful aura of fear the Hokage turned his full attention to the interrogation specialist.

"Yeeah! Give it to me baby!!"

_What is he…doing? It almost sounds like…no…he can't be? Can he?_ Sarutobi thought. _I don't want…to know…_

Little Naruto did not like the big person above him and began to cry.

"Waaaaaaah!"

"Oh my god! Yes! Yes!" Ibiki exclaimed his face flushed. "Moar!"

Sarutobi just stared, his brain had finally shut down.

"WAAAAAAAAA! WAAAA!"

"Oh, itsssss tooo….goood….tooo much…" Ibiki exclaimed before passing out with the biggest grin of ecstasy on his face ever.

End Chapter

Hmmmm…dunno if the Ibiki stuff was going too far…oh well.

You may have noticed I've tried to make out that the various quirks and crazy behaviour some of the Naruto cast have, stem from poor Naruto in this fic. Gai had his eyebrows burnt off and they grew back thicker if you need to know lol

**Chapter 3**

The Hidden Village of Konoha lay silent under a dark cloudy night. The only movement was that of the night-time insects that fluttered around globes of light and the occasional bat or bird of prey, sometimes a white ANBU mask was briefly seen in the darkness (why they chose to wear bright white masks at night was better left to other minds inquiring to decide) before quickly vanishing. A bunch of unruly and loud clan heads were stumbling down the main street, complaining loudly about the unfairness of what the demon had done to them (we'll get to that later).

So...apart from that there was no movement...and so, no one (aside from the loud drunks and the ANBU) witnessed the shadowy figure leaping quickly and stealthy from rooftop to rooftop, crossing the village in a seemingly random pattern that was actually designed to throw off any would-be pursuers.

Seemingly at random the figure dropped to a nearby balcony and with the grace of something unbelievingly graceful raced along the narrow edge, one arm held across the figure's face and the other arm holding a wicker basket very carefully.

Reaching the end of that particular building the figure leapt once more into the air to cross the gap of the street to the building across, grabbed with perfect timing a nearby hanging wire, vaulted around it before letting go at the apex. He caught the edge of the roof as he passed and with practiced effort flipped up onto it, all the while cradling the basket reveredly.

The figure paused, checked the area for any pursuit with a rapid series of single-handed chakra moulding, before he stood slowly and backed away from the edge. His dark brown, loosely fitted body suit hid him well in the darkness. He waited silently, the wind playing with his the tails of his long cloth bandana.

He did not have to wait long. His eyes moved in the darkness to look to his right as a second shadowy figure stepped out from the darkness behind him.

"Did you...bring it?" the newcomer asked, his deep voice almost trembling with restrained excitement.

"Yes." The first figure replied patting the basket carefully. "He's sleeping right now...it took me great effort to pull this off without anyone seeing."

"Yesssss. Give it to me!" the bigger man hissed reaching out greedily, fingers wiggling in anticipation.

"Remember the deal. Where's my...payment? You weren't planning on not paying were you?" The icy tone of voice made the second person pause, as if he were considering if he could take it by force. After a moment of deliberation he reached into his coat and pulled out a plastic bag filled with something that could not be made out in the low light.

"I have your payment right here." He flicked the bag.

"Then we have a deal." The first figure turned and held his free hand out for the bag.

The bigger shadow passed the bag to the first and when the basket was raised, snatched it with viper speed out of the other's hand. It was just then that the cloud cover broke, allowing the light from the waxing moon to illuminate the scene.

"Yessss, my preciouuuuusss!" Ibiki purred, cradling the basket close and rubbing his face against it like a cat.

Behind him Sarutobi, the Third Hokage carefully examined the contents of the bag before stuffing it into his shirt. "This better be the real deal Ibiki."

"Of course it is!" Ibiki replied looking annoyed at being interrupted. "My special blend guaranteed to work. Now to make sure little Naruto goes to a good home! Yeeeeessss a goooood hooome full of feeaaar." Ibiki giggled perversely and lifted the lid of the basket up.

"Mama!" exclaimed the plastic toy baby inside the basket.

"Huh?" Ibiki had time to say before the toy exploded with a dull whomp and a bright flash of gas which blinded the large man momentarily. Before he even had time to realise what had happened Sarutobi had moved, blurring into action. The Hokage hit a pressure point, causing Ibiki to freeze up and followed that up with another that made the big man's legs collapse under him, before finishing him off with a quick chop to the back of his neck.

Ibiki was out like a light, face down on the roof in less than three seconds.

"Did you really think I'd leave Naruto in your hands you perverted fruit loop?" Sarutobi asked standing with one foot on the unconscious body.

xXx

Earlier that evening in a bar...

"...I put up a brave fight but the demon overpowered me. With a blast of pure chakra forged from the deepest bowels of hell it blew me out the window. Isn't that right Itachi?" Fugaku Uchiha recounted the story of how he came to be in a full body-cast and wheelchair.

"Yes Father." Itachi intoned from beside his father, not bothering anymore to correct his father as no one listened to a child. So he just stood calmly and stared at Hiashi. To the onlookers observing, there was something dangerous about him, as if he was judging them and plotting how he would kill each and every one of them, maybe it was the boy's permanent Sharingan. Of course the other drinkers with Fugaku were too drunk to notice.

"Man yoush had it rougsh." Stated Shikaku Nara before downing another drink in one. He placed the small shot glass down with a shaky hand. "I tought my brussht with death was bad." He paused a moment, eyeing his glass as if wondering how it had gotten empty. Glancing to his side he asked. "Hey Choza? Did you drink my drink?"

The red-haired Akimichi clan head turned to his friend and shook his head. "No."

Shikaku squinted at his friend, he seemed different. After a moment he realised what it was. "Hey, buddy are those cheek bones?" he asked incredulously pointing.

Choza's bottom lip began trembling before he suddenly burst into tears. "Waaaaah! I've failed my clan!" He buried his head in his arms.

"What's wrong with him?" Hiashi Hyuga asked sitting stoically, being the least drunk of the group, aside from Fugaku. It seemed Itachi was a clumsy boy, every time his Father asked him to help him drink he would drop the glass spilling the drink over the Uchiha clan head.

Hiashi had not planned on joining his small group of co-conspirators in drinking until the Uchiha's arrived. His clan had no love lost with them and it was only because of the threat the demon-fox presented that he even considered joining with them.

The boy had been staring at Hiashi and not being one to back down from a challenge he had engaged the boy in a stare-off. He had lost, blinking first when his eyes threatened to dry up into silvery raisins and so being too embarrassed to admit he had lost a challenge to an Uchiha and being uncomfortable under that gaze he had joined the others in drowning their sorrows. Anything to forget that boy was stood there.

"I don'sh know." Shikaku replied concerned. "Hey, hey, what's wrong man?"

"Probably something the demon did to him." Fugaku growled. "Itachi, son. Help me with that drink."

"Yes Father." Itachi picked up the drink and held it towards his father's lips.

"You're a good boy Itachi. You make your father proud." Fugaku leaned as far forward as he could, attempting to get his lips on the glass' rim. After a few failed attempts at reaching the amber liquid he spoke.

"Itachi, hold it a bit closer please."

"I'm afraid to Father. I may spill it again if I hold it much closer." Itachi stated, keeping the glass just out of Fugaku's reach. Fugaku looked like he was going to cry himself as he began trying once more to reach the glass, his lips going though many strange contortions in his attempt to reach the glass.

Across the table Choza had managed to reign in his emotions somewhat, only sniffling now and again. "I've failed...I've not been able to eat much for so long now...ever since..." he shuddered in remembrance of explosive diarrhea brought on through fear. "...the thought of food, what goes in must come out..."

Hiashi and Shikaku exchanged a confused glance. Shikaku shrugged. In the background Fugaku was now making strange straining noises as he lapped at the drink with his tongue, tears streaming down his cheeks. Itachi continued to hold the glass in place, just out of reach and stared at the Hyuga.

"So..." Shikaku spoke towards Hiashi. "Did the Third trys and gest you to adoptsh the demon too?"

"He did."

"What happened?" Shikaku probed. All eyes turned to Hiashi, except Itachi's whose were already on him. Fugaku paused in his dog impression.

"I don't know. My twin brother offered to take my place." Hiashi stated taking another sip of his drink. "Although since then he doesn't leave his room much...we keep hearing him in the night, mumbling...and moving around. I believe he might be plotting to kill me."

"Thast rough." Shikaku sighed before slamming a fist down on the table. "We hast to do something before it becomes mobile! Once it's crawling it'll hunsts us down!"

"But what can we do? The Hokage won't let anyone kill it and you know many have tried." Choza sighed in frustration.

"I heard Kakashi was caught trying to burn the Hokage tower down. If Kakashi can't get the job done not many can. And what we're talking about here is almost treason." Hiashi pointed out.

"Then we must gather support from all the clans. Get as many people together as possible and stage protest. Sarutobi must respond to that!" Fugaku growled.

"Yeash! A protest complete with leaflets!" Shikaku grinned insanely. "He'll know hows serious we are if we have leaflets."

"Yeah...leaflets..." Choza muttered.

"Ares we alls in agrseement?"

"Aye!" they agreed.

"Then let us drinks to a new era of freedom from fear!" Shikaku cheered and they raised their glasses together before drinking. Aside from Fugaku who was now crying as he tried to reach the drink his kind son held for him.

Itachi just stared, sharingan spinning and plotted.

xXx

The window to Sarutobi's bedroom slid open silently and the Hokage climbed through it. Turning around he slid it shut quietly and drew the curtains. The room was now in total darkness but he knew it like the back of his hand and navigated expertly over to the real Naruto's crib.

Looking down he knew the boy was sleeping as there was no aura of malevolence.

"Good. No one tired anything while I was gone." Sarutobi sighed in frustration as the situation. No matter what he had tried, it always backfired somehow. Word had gotten around the rest of the clans that he had been trying to get Naruto adopted and since then no one had responded to his summons to see the boy. Even bribes had failed...except Ibiki. Sarutobi could not in clear conscious let him raise the boy. Uh hu! No way!

He sighed. It looked like he was destined to raise the boy.

Turning away now he knew Naruto was safe we made his way to the desk in the far corner. Pulling his chair out he sat down and clicked his fingers. A small flame generated from chakra burst from his fingertip and he used it to light the candles on his desk.

He leant back in his chair and relaxed.

"Ibiki's a freak." He sighed. "Intimidation didn't stop him stalking Naruto. Let see how this works."

He then remembered the package he had gotten from Ibiki and reached into his shirt to pull it out.

"Well, I wonder if this stuff works." Sarutobi quietly wondered examining the crushed, brown fibres. Supposedly it was one of Ibiki's imported drugs used for questioning. It was rumoured to be used to on those that didn't crack under pressure. A special relaxant that made them immune to fear, and often cocky enough to be tricked into revealing secrets.

"Well, I might as well test it." The Hokage muttered opening a draw and pulling out a brand new pipe. He was not a smoker but this situation was desperate. He needed a way to become immune to Naruto, if he didn't he suspected he'd go insane soon.

He opened the bag and took a tiny amount of the fibrous material and placed it in his pipe. He then filled the remaining area with normal tobacco. He lighted the pipe with another chakra flame and took a careful drag.

Coughing from the first smoke he had ever taken Sarutobi grimaced but kept at it, and soon he began to feel relaxed actually. Unbeknown to Sarutobi his eyes began to unfocus, pupils dilating at different speeds giving a weird strobing effect if you looked into his eyes.

Across the room from the crib Naruto was heard stirring. The aura once more sprang up but Sarutobi stayed relaxed, continuing to smoke away until Naruto gurgled.

The Hokage blinked, realising Naruto was awake and he was calm and relaxed. "Well, what do you know. This stuff works." He chuckled staring at the pipe.

"Sooo it does." The pipe replied in a Scottish accent.

"Whoa..." Sarutobi blinked. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can talk you hairless pea-brained monkey." Growled a deep but tinny voice behind him. Sarutobi turned his head towards the voice and blinked in stoned-curiosity at the floating fox head bubbling above Naruto's crib.

"The Kyuubi I presume?" Sarutobi asked getting lazily off his chair and wandering over to stare at the apparition. The fox growled. Its needle teeth flashing as it tried to attack the Hokage with no success.

"Damned this accursed seal!" The Kyuubi hissed eyes flashing in anger. "If this seal did not contain me I'd lay waste to all you hold dear!"

"Ah, but the seal is holding...even if that tit did cock up." Sarutobi stated and blew smoke in the Kyuubi's face.

"How dare you mortal!" the tiny bubbly balloon-like beast that was anchored to baby Naruto roared. "I'll devour you! I'll crack your bones and drink your blood for this! Your suffering will be legendary!"

"Uh huh."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Just a tad." Sarutobi smirked as the Kyuubi apparition bared its teeth again. "My...what big teeth you have..."

"Hokage-sama. I must talk with you." Itachi's voice stated in the darkness behind him interrupting his friendly chat.

Sarutobi did not blink or flinch at the sudden appearance of the Uchiha boy.

"Why it's little Itachi." He grinned turning. "Have you come to take my job for me again?"

"I smell Uchiha! Raaawwr!!" The mini-Kyuubi roared and was ignored by both humans.

"No sir. I have news you will wish to hear."

"Go on." The Hokage prompted taking another drag.

"My father, Hiashi Hyuga, Choza Akimichi and Shikaku Nara are planning on gathering support to force you to destroy Naruto here." Itachi stated.

"Are they now..." Sarutobi replied unconcerned.

"Are you ignoring me! Me! The Kyuubi!" the fox was foaming at the mouth.

Itachi and the Hokage stared at the fox, annoyed at the interruption.

"Allow me sir." Itachi stated and stepped up to the fox which began snapping viciously at the boy. Itachi pulled out a pin from somewhere and proceed to pop the apparition. "There, I have suppressed it for now."

"You're a clever boy Itachi." Sarutobi stated impressed. "Tell me, why are you telling me about this plot. Are you not loyal to your family?"

"My Father is a coward and a liar. As are all those that plot against you sir. You are not a coward like the others who leap from windows to escape a mere child. I respect you." Itachi replied. "I will serve Konoha before even my clan after the pitiful display my Father showed me."

"Itachi, you have my gratitude." Sarutobi smiled, the gears turning in his head already. He moved away, crossing his room back to his desk. He sat down and began writing. Once finished he got back up and walked back over to Itachi.

"Take these instructions to ANBU headquarters." Sarutobi handed the scroll to Itachi. "I want you to join my special unit, if you're willing of course."

"Of course sir." Itachi replied taking the scroll.

"Good. I want you here tomorrow at dawn for your first mission." Sarutobi smiled before turning back towards the desk to retrieve an ANBU mask from a drawer. "Oh and before you go..."

When he turned back Itachi was gone and he hadn't even sensed to boy leave.

"Most impressive." Sarutobi grinned evilly. "Hmmm, now I have a rebellion to stifle."

End Chapter


	3. Chapter 3

**Ranma One of Six - Prologue**

I don't own any of the characters and won't make any money etc. :P

Mount Quanjing, Bayankala range, Qinghai Province, China.

"Here sir, is legendary training ground of accursed springs." the Jusenkyo guide explained in broken Japanese and indicated at the pools of water, with their bamboo pole of varying heights sticking out of them. They littered the grounds of Jusenkyo, over a hundred of those pools existed.

"Are you prepared Ranma?" Genma Saotome asked sternly, slipping into his best martial arts master impression.

"This place ain't so impressive." Ranma dismissed. To him, it was not living up to it's legendary status and considering he had seen far superior and better maintained similar training grounds. He wasn't impressed. Ranma slipped his pack from his shoulders and let it drop to the ground, before tightening the belt of his keikogi. Why his pops had been going on so much about this place he just couldn't figure out.

"You very strange one, no, sir?" the Jusenkyo guide queried, while in the background Genma was placing his own backpack down next to his son's. "This place very dangerous. Nobody use now. Is more than one hundred spring here, and each have own tragic legend!"

"Ranma! Follow me!" Genma commanded leaping high into the air. Ranma gave chase moments behind.

"Ah! Sir! What you do?" the guide shouted and was ignored by the two martial artists as they landed perfectly balanced and facing each other on separate bamboo poles. Both held themselves still and ready, guards up.

"I won't go easy on you." Genma stated.

"That's how I want it." Ranma replied cockily as the pair launched themselves at each other. Genma went high and bellowed as he attacked.

"Please sir! Very bad if you fall in spring!"

The Jusenkyo guide was ignored as father and son clashed in midair. Genma tried to catch Ranma with a kick that was avoided by liberal use of the Saotome Anything-Goes aerial skills. Ranma contorted himself to avoid the kick while at the same time used Genma's outstretched leg to spring from. He then flipped around and landed a blow between his father's shoulder blades, sending Genma face-first towards the pool below.

"Gotcha!" Ranma grinned as he landed with grace on the nearest pole and watched with glee as Genma went under with a loud splash.

Ranma waited for a moment, readying the most cocky comment he could for when a soaking Genma crawled his way out. After a few more seconds went by with no sign of his father, Ranma began to grow concerned.

"Pops? What's up? We done already?" he asked as the pool below began to settle once more. Moments later the water began to churn and a large dark shape was seen approaching.

That was when the absolutely livid giant panda burst out of the pool and landed facing Ranma on another pole, which flexed under the weight of the 250 pound animal. Ranma had seen some weird stuff growing up but this took the cake.

"What? What? What?" Ranma pointed a shaky finger at the panda, which he absently noticed was wearing his father's keikogi and his glasses hung from one of it's ears.

"That is 'Spring of Drowned Panda'!" the ever-helpful Jusenkyo guide shouted. "There is tragic legend, very tragic, of panda that drowned there two thousand year ago! Now, whoever fall in that spring...take body of panda!"

"Oh no." Ranma finally realised the truth and began to worry. He began panicking as his pandafied father once more launched himself at Ranma.

"Wait a second!" Ranma leapt or tried to leap, but in his shaken state he didn't get far and a furry paw clamped onto his keikogi. "You never said anything about...!"

Genma in his anger at being dunked first so easily paid no heed to his son's cries as he threw the boy as hard as he could at another nearby spring. Ranma hit the water like a bullet and vanished into the depths.

"That'll teach you boy!" Genma stated and was confused when all that came out was grunts and growls. He blinked and looked down at himself. 'Uh ho...' he thought.

"Ooooh! Not spring of Drowned Otaku's Model Collection!" the guide stated with worry. He had no idea what would happen here. "There is tragic legend, very tragic, of an Otaku who dropped his model collection in spring one month ago. Now whoever fall in that spring take body of..."

Ranma surfaced bursting from the water and shaking his or actually her head. She glanced down at her chest feeling a weight that should not be there and stared. Strangely she did not panic and for some reason she decided it would not do to pull her clothes open to check what her eyes told her.

"...oh...woman...I think?" the guide scratched his head in confusion, had he gotten the wrong spring he wondered at seeing the woman, who looked in her late twenties, that Ranma had become.

'Woman?' Genma instantly thought. 'Oh no! Nodoka'll kill me!'

Ranma slowly began to realise the full extent of what had just occurred and began to sizzle in rage.

'That complete moron! How could he do this to me? How did he fail to comprehend he had become a Ailuropoda melanoleuca? Idiot!' Ranma mentally grumbled and clenched and unclenched her fingers. She looked up at the buffoon and sent him the nastiest look she could while plotting different ways she could get back at him for ruining his life. She came up with a surprising large amount in a few seconds.

Genma did not like the look Ranma directed at him. In fact, it was uncannily similar to the one his wife would use. He swallowed and proceeded to use the Saotome Ultimate Technique he had developed for just such an occasion. He fled. He'd come back later when Ranma had calmed down.

"Typical." Ranma stated turning away from the fleeing panda and sloshed her way to the pool edge. She climbed out and wasn't surprised to see that the guide kept his distance to avoid the water dripping off of her.

Was she taller than before, Ranma wondered curiously as she went to wring the water from her ponytail and was confused when she found it gone. Feeling around, she realised her hair was now only at neck level. Great, another thing to be annoyed at with the panda.

The guide remained quiet and watched the striking, newly femaled martial artist warily. Most recently cursed people panicked or/and raged, this one was just standing there with a strangely contemplative expression on her face. She turned her brown eyes towards him and spoke, her voice holding a distinctly well scholared tone.

"Now, would you explain this curse thing once more, and _don't_ leave anything out."

x X x

Two weeks later, Nerima.

The rain had came suddenly and without warning, sending the people in the market place to seek cover underneath various stalls or into shops as they waited for the rain to cease. They didn't have long to wait, the rain let up almost a quickly as it had begun and soon the shoppers began to stream back into the now damp streets.

They soon found themselves surprised by a second unusual event that day. A giant panda, carrying a backpack, raced down the street as if the hounds of hell were after it.

"Whoa! Is that a panda?" someone asked as the large mammal dodged and weaved through the few people too stunned to jump out of it's way.

"Get back here you old fart! How dare you choose a fiancée for me?" A black blur whisked past, leaping meters in a single bound as it gave chase.

Genma's finely honed danger sense went off and he threw himself forward onto his belly as something passed through where he had been seconds before. A tuft of fur floated off into the air, caught by the wind, as he slid down the slippery, wet road. A sign post that had been beside him separated into five sections and clattered to the ground causing nearby bystanders to step back in shock.

Genma came to halt in the middle of the road and found himself staring at a pair of elegant black high heeled boots that appeared before him. He slowly looked up and swallowed in fear as he took in the beautiful black dress that clung to all the right places of Ranma's current form. The dress covered nearly her entire body aside from her shoulders and left plenty of cleavage and the odd tattoo above it, on show.

Ranma stood glaring down at him with her arms crossed underneath her breasts, emphasising the already perfectly formed shapes ever further.

"Well, old man? Do you have any last words?" Ranma stated rolling her head to the side smoothly, letting her body length, lustrous dark violet hair sway. She smiled a smile devoid of humour and her violet eyes showed even less.

"Now son, lets not be hasty." Genma sat up and produced a panda sign. Five black points suddenly speared through the wooden sign.

"Hasty? Very amusing coming from one such as you don't you think pops?" Ranma's grin got nasty as she pulled the sigh from Genma's paw and held it up with her four-foot long claws.

"Are they shooting a movie?" Someone asked in the background as Ranma sliced the sign by spreading her fingers wide. Genma gulped as he watched the wood bounce off the ground.

The elder Saotome rolled back onto his knees, not taking his eyes from the demon-woman his son had been possessed by. He pulled another sign out. "Look! A ten yen piece!"

Genma ducked as the claws extended out at his head like bullets and then slowly retracted as Ranma snorted. "You really think I'll fall for that one?"

"Very well son." Genma flipped the sign around. "You've forced me to do this! Be Prepared!"

"Oooooooh! Amuse me."

"Crouch of the White Tiger!" Genma flipped the sign once more and began kowtowing while his sign stated "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Ranma had the decency to look embarrassed as people began whispering around them. Her alabaster white cheeks flushed slightly.

"Idiot!" she slapped him on the back of his head. "You call grovelling a technique? Huh?"

Ranma was caught off guard as she received a face full of hot water from a thermos Genma had conveniently prepared for just this situation. Ranma immediately changed back to male and spluttered before a wooden panda-sign smashed into his head sending him into a unexpected slumber.

Genma moved fast, catching the boy before he could fall to the ground. He didn't want to risk Ranma getting wet again. Some of Ranma's forms were...difficult to deal with. At least if he got him to the Tendo's Ranma might change his mind about the engagement. The boy was slung unceremoniously over Genma's shoulder who finally noticed all the stares and whispers being directed toward him.

"Growl! Gruff!" Genma growled at the crowd which quickly choose to disperse.

x X x

At the Tendo Martial Art School of Anything-Goes, Soun Tendo was explaining to his three daughter about their prearranged engagement to his best friend's son.

"Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of training. Recently, it seems they crossed into China." Soun continued his talking up of Ranma, hoping to spark interest in at least one of his little girls.

"Wow! China!" Nabiki smiled cheerfully as she leaned forward on the table.

"What's so great about walking to China?" Akane groused, not impressed and looked away.

"Is he cute?" Nabiki asked hopefully.

"How old is he? Younger men bore me." Kasumi questioned resting her chin against her palm and frowned. Then she and Nabiki asked the big one. "What kind of guy is this Ranma?"

Soun laughed before his face snapped into a stoic expression. "No idea."

"No idea?" Nabiki parroted leaning in close. Her expression stated clearly she wasn't pleased by her father's admission.

"I've never met him."

The family discussion was abruptly ended as a cry of "Let go you old fool!" split the air, followed by the sound of struggling.

"Hmm?" Nabiki hummed as all four Tendo's turned to face the disturbance.

"We have visitors." Kasumi announced climbing to her feet to go greet whoever it was.

"Oooo! It must be Ranma!" Nabiki cheered racing out the room and down the veranda to see.

"Saotome! My old friend! We've been waiting!" Soun raced after her.

Oh, I hope he's older, Kasumi thought following the sound of retreating footsteps at a leisurely pace.

How depressing, boys! Akane thought following behind her oldest sister.

The sound of retreating footsteps change and suddenly began racing back the way they had came. Kasumi and Akane were brought up short by the sight of a terrified Nabiki and Soun running their way. Behind them was the biggest panda bear either of them had seen giving chase.

"Hey! Yo! You're scaring them spitless!" Ranma bellowed from Genma's shoulder. Genma actually for once listened to his son and came to a halt.

"Daddy..." Kasumi asked slowly, taking cover behind her father "...is this your friend?"

Soun whipped his head from side to side indicating it wasn't.

"Oh. So this panda just decided to visit! Happens all the time!" Nabiki shouted.

Genma decided that it was time to introduce Ranma and picked the boy off his shoulder and dumped him on his feet before the Tendo's. The sound of crickets filled the air as the girl's recoiled in shock.

Ranma might have been considered cute or handsome by them, if he hadn't been wearing an ill-fitting black evening dress that showed off his tight male chest, four inch heels and purple lipstick.

Soun stared in a detached shock. "You...wouldn't be..." he asked hoping against all hope this wasn't who he thought it was.

"Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this." Ranma stated while wishing the ground would swallow him up.

End Prologue

Oh no, I've started another crappy fic, seeing as I can't seem to write sweet F A on any of my others :(

Basically, what if like there was a spring that was similar to the Spring of Drowned Warrior Goddess (which was a drowned statue of the goddess I believe) but with more than one form, each time he gets wet it cycles around the six cursed forms and he takes on some of the characteristics that the forms were modelled on.

I sense lots of potential chaos here :)

**Ranma One of Six - Chapter 1**

Revised to fix grammar and a little detail added.

The Tendo's living room was exceptionally quiet as Kasumi gently took care of her father, who was laid out on the floor with a blanket covering him and a small pillow below his head. His face was pale and he appeared to be frozen in his own personal hell as he stared up at the ceiling.

Behind Kasumi, both Nabiki and Akane kept their distance from the giant panda and the cross-dresser they had been engaged to. All three girls were attempting not to look in his direction, and so far, all three were slightly too stunned to speak...yet.

The giant panda had sat down by the sliding door, his back to the yard with Ranma stood outside, just behind his father, and tried to keep his balance on the four inch heels he still wore. His face was bright red and he refused to meet anyone's eyes.

The wind chime on the porch tinkled away as the wind disturbed it. The breeze caught Ranma's long hair and blew it around.

"Umm..." Ranma began to speak but the three identical looks of disgust sent towards him by the girls made him clamp up. He hung his head.

Kasumi noticed how uncomfortable Ranma seemed to be and decided to take pity on him. "Yes Ranma? Is there something you want to ask?" she asked, being the dutiful host seeing as her father was in no condition to deal with guests. Not that she could actually fault him this time.

"...um...is there...someplace I could...get changed?" Ranma asked quietly.

"Need to powder your nose Ranma?" Nabiki asked sarcastically, boy did she feel disappointed and more than a little freaked out.

"Nabiki! He's our guest." Kasumi admonished. She turned to Ranma. "Excuse Nabiki, she's just a little startled."

"That's one way of putting it." Nabiki drawled quietly to Akane next to her, who nodded in agreement.

"If you would like, the furo was recently run. It's just down that way and on your right." Kasumi indicated by pointing the way to go.

"Thanks." Ranma replied and hobbled over to his backpack by the panda. He opened it and rummaged around a bit until he pulled out a set of black silk pants and a white sleeved Chinese style shirt.

Ranma moved over to the edge of the veranda and sat down so he could pull off the knee high boots, having learned the hard way that hoping around on one foot to take these things off was not a good idea unless he wanted to embarrass himself further.

He pulled the first one off and placed it to his side, then the other.

"Ahhh!" he sighed and flexed his toes. It felt good getting them out of those too small boots for his normal form. A feeling of people watching him intently made him freeze up for a moment. He slowly turned his head around. The three Tendo sister's who had been watching in sick curiosity all quickly looked away at having been caught staring.

Nabiki whistled tunelessly to herself while taking a sudden interest in the ceiling. Kasumi quickly grabbed the washcloth she had been soaking to place on her father's forehead and dropped the sopping wet cloth over Soun's face with a squelching sound. The elder Tendo did not react. Akane glared at the floorboards, fists clenched over her knees where she knelt and tired to keep her mind off the pervert. This wasn't your average run-of-the-mill pervert she dealt with at school. This was a _real_ pervert and she was frightened.

Ranma blinked a couple of times before he climbed to his feet and shuffled off as quickly as he was able in the tight dress that came down to calf level.

All three girls waited till he was gone before talking.

"Oh poor Daddy. He's soo disappointed." Kasumi exclaimed as she pulled the cloth off of Soun's face quickly as she realised the mistake she had made. Soun's face was soaking wet and water had dripped onto the floor and pillow below him, but still he remained silent and staring.

"He's disappointed!" Nabiki waved her arms in disgust. "Some fiancé that is!"

"I'm sure Ranma's a erm..." Kasumi struggled to find a nice way of talking about Ranma.

"Scary pervert..." Akane shuddered, images of being married to that ran through her head.

"Freak?" Nabiki supplied helpfully.

"Nabiki! I was going to say a 'nice boy'." Kasumi grimaced.

"That's one way of putting it."

The three looked around in silence.

"You don't think Daddy will still want us to go through with this engagement?" All three girls asked at the same time. They looked down at their father who remained motionless as a wind blew past them, chilling them to bone despite the evening being warm.

"I haven't seen him as animated as today in a long time..." Kasumi pondered with a finger to her lips.

"You know what he's like when he gets and idea in head..." Nabiki stated worry etched on her brow.

Akane stood up mechanically and walked outside. A moment later she came back carrying the large, solid cement garden ornament.

"Umm, Akane what's that for?" Nabiki asked curiously.

"If we drown him in the furo and hide the body no one will know right?" Akane replied calmly.

"Akane!" Kasumi shrieked in horror. "We will not drown our guests!"

"But..."

"No! Put that back!"

Akane sighed and wandered back out into the garden. There was a loud thud as the ornament was replaced. Akane then walked back in and past her sister's heading towards the hallway.

"Where are you going Akane?" Nabiki asked curiously.

"I'm going to hide in my room now."

"Oh my..."

"Well...this officially sucks." Nabiki commented.

"Now, now, Nabiki. We should try to look on the bright side." Kasumi stated holding a finger in the air and trying to think of something optimistic. "..." she stated after a moment's thought.

"Bright side? Well, I suppose we can always swap make-up tips with him. Oooh! I know we can share clothes too!"

"Well, he is a guest so we should treat him with courtesy while we plan of a way to get rid of him and out of this engagement."

"Ideas?" Nabiki asked as they leaned in and began conspiring. Neither of them bothered to pay attention to the giant panda that had been listening slip out the room.

x X x

Ranma tugged and struggled with the black dress as he attempted to remove the offending garment. Despite the material's appearance it was as strong as steel and clingier than spider's webbing. It took ages to get off his true form.

"How the hell I can leap around in this thing as her..." Ranma grumbled finally getting the thing past his waist and let it drop to the floor. He stepped out of it picked it up and with an angry snort tossed it into the basket nearby.

"Every freaking time...she changes my clothes on purpose just to spite me! I must hate myself!" Ranma groaned grabbing a towel. He paused before the mirror and stared at his reflection. His hair was still untied and hung loose around his shoulders and he still had that damned purple lipstick on.

"Damn me." Ranma grumbled running the hot water tap of the small sink below the mirror, he proceeded to scrub off the offending makeup. He hated to admit it, but he was finally getting the hang of getting the stuff off. His first attempt had just spread it around his face and left him looking like a clown.

Once done he turned the tap back off and flicked the water off his hands. With a sigh he turned to the sliding door and slid it open to enter the bathroom. Despite his annoyance and embarrassment at himself, he had to whistle at the size of the furo. Seems the Tendo's had some money to have a bathroom like this.

Ranma frowned, no wonder his pops was wanting the engagement. Although, he doubted he had made a very good first impression. Not that it mattered, he needed to find a cure and fast.

Ranma filled the plastic tub with cold water from the tap and carried it over to the plastic stool. He sat down and began counting which forms he had been through recently. At first he had thought the changes had been random, but shortly after Jusenkyo he had begun to notice the pattern. If he guessed right the next change would be a one of his more normal girl forms.

"Well, let's see..." Ranma emptied the water over his head. One instant-water-girl sat still and calmly on the stool, ignoring the coldness of the water that now dripped off her.

"Hmm, I was right." Ranma stated to herself. Her voice quiet and calm. Her hand went to check her hair and as expected found it tied up in a high-ponytail. _Wish I knew why it changes my hair so much_, Ranma thought to herself and started to scrub herself down.

While washing she began to study her thoughts on the engagement. Where as in his true form he resented the idea just because his father had decided for him, and the demon-woman form just plain out detested the idea, this form had no opinion one way or the other. She just didn't care. Strange.

Actually this form, this slim, toned and petite girl with sad eyes was the calmest and most detached of them all. It was also the second best thinker, which gave Ranma time to ponder where she should begin laying traps to prevent being disturbed by her father.

x X x

Genma stepped into changing room and picked up a towel out of the basket. For once he was actually deep in thought.

_I may have screwed up there_, Genma thought. _Should have gotten Ranma out of that damned demon-woman's dress. Now those girls are plotting how to disrupt my plans further._

Genma knew he had to try and quickly salvage the situation. He'd explain to his old buddy about the curses and surely they would all understand. Right? And if that failed, surely the old Saotome charm would kick in.

Genma slid the door to the furo open and stepped in. He suddenly frozen mid-step, panda toes inches from the tiles as he took in the sight of Ranma. His son was currently in *_that*_ form.

A naked Ranma-chan held her towel before herself and stood in a definitely feminine manner. She turned her head around slowly, showing no concern, and regarded Genma with an air of detached curiosity. Her eyes quietly bored into him, daring him and he began sweating.

"..." Ranma asked without blinking the entire time.

Genma backed off and slid the door shut with a click.

Ranma shrugged and climbed into the furo.

"Ahhhhh." he sighed changing back. A frown crossed his face and he pulled his hair out of the high ponytail. His hair had returned to it's normal length, just not style, and really wasn't long enough to support that kind of ponytail.

_Where do these come from?_ Ranma wondered holding the ribbon that had just recently appeared to hold his hair.

Whoosh! The door slid open once more and the giant panda that was his father stood there, now holding a bamboo stick.

"What's up Pops?" Ranma asked, wondering what the stick was for.

Genma growlfed and dropped to his belly and carefully began poking each tile by the door with the end of the stick.

Ranma watched this from the furo, a smirk spreading across his features. "Ahhh, this is great."

Genma's eye twitched in annoyance and he held up a panda-sign. "You're enjoying this!"

"Yeah, this bath is the greatest!" Ranma agreed sinking deeper.

Genma continued to tap the tiles as if searching for traps. After a few minutes he was relatively certain there weren't any and stood back up and went to step in again.

"You know, as her, I'd have set the tiles up so that only the right weight would set them off. Right?" Ranma stated and sank deeper into the water so his mouth was covered preventing Genma from seeing his smirk.

Genma's panda-toes once again paused inches from the tiles. A vein bulged in his forehead, impressive to see considering he was covered in fur. For the second time he retreated, slamming the door shut again. Ranma just chuckled as he heard water running.

Whoosh! The door slid open once more and a now human Genma stood there in all his naked glory, aside from the bandana covering his bald head.

"Bwaahhaha! Foolish boy! Do you think I'd fall for your girlish traps!" Genma laughed fists on hips. "I'm not a master at sneaking into places for lost treasures for no reason!"

"Feh. Whatever." Ranma snorted.

Genma continued laughing like crazy as he stepped into the bathroom. So loudly was he laughing that he didn't hear the click as he stepped on the tiles. He didn't miss the whoosh of flames as the rigged kerosene lamp come homemade flamethrower went off above his head setting his bandana on fire.

Genma laughter morphed in a scream of surprise before he actually used his common sense and fled out the bathroom, rather than step further inside and risk setting anymore traps off. Ranma laughed as he listened to his father's scream fade.

"Well, I suppose I better face the music..." he sighed climbing out.

x X x

Nabiki headed towards the kitchen. Kasumi had decided to be a dutiful hostess and cook a little meal for the guest and his panda, while she tried to think something up to get rid of the cross-dresser without seeming too nasty.

Nabiki paused in confusion as a male scream was heard approaching her. "What the...yikes!!!" Nabiki shrieked and flattened herself against the wall as a naked older man with the top of his head on fire came racing around the corner and past her.

The Tendo girl's jaw hung open and she held a hand to her chest in shock, where her heart was pounding. There was a loud splash from in the garden.

Nabiki felt her grip on reality begin to slip. "I must...be seeing things. That's right Tendo. You're just seeing things..."

Gathering her wits Nabiki turned around the corner and stopped in her tracks. Kasumi was stood just in the doorway of the kitchen, a look of surprise etched on her frozen face and the food she had been preparing lay scattered by her feet over the wooden floor.

"Kasumi! Kasumi! Did you just see a naked old guy on fire run past?" Nabiki asked. Kasumi didn't reply. Nabiki waved her hand before Kasumi's face. No reaction. "I'll take that as a yes then."

Light footsteps drew her attention away from her sister. It was Ranma, dressed in mostly normal clothes. He looked guilty as he stood there rubbing the back of his head and watching the two sisters.

"Umm, sorry about that. Kinda was my fault..."

"You've broken my Daddy and big sister. You better have either a good reason or pots of money for the lawsuit." Nabiki growled.

x X x

An hour later, the Saotomes made introductions for the second time and first time.

"I'll explain it all. This is my old friend..." Soun Tendo introduced his friend to his daughters.

"Genma Saotome. And this is my son..." Genma indicated to Ranma.

"Ranma." Ranma finished.

"So, what's this all about?" Nabiki questioned with a frown. "And where'd the panda go?" She glanced at Kasumi who was blushing in embarrassment whenever she looked at Genma.

"Hmm, how should I explain this?" Genma pondered sagely, while plotting how to get back at his son for his earlier embarrassment. He swiftly grabbed Ranma by his shirt and before the boy could react threw him over his shoulder. "Hiyaaa!"

"Waah!" Ranma shouted as he was unexpectedly thrown out the room and into the koi pond in the yard. Ranma disappeared under the water with a loud splash. Bubbles floated to the top and slowly the surface began to settle.

"Is he okay?" Kasumi questioned as Ranma didn't surface.

"And does anyone care?" Nabiki asked. Akane shook her head indicating that that was a no.

Genma walked over to the pond and began his pre-prepared pity routine. "Oh! My own son! The humiliation! Huh?" He broke off as Ranma's water-logged pants floated to the surface. "Uh ho..." Genma deadpanned as a pair of small hands clamped around his ankle. He had time to look down and see a light-blond mop of hair set in a single bun at the back and purple eyes, from just above the water line, stare up at him.

Ranma slowly walked out the pond, lifting Genma above her head easily.

"Now son, put me down. Let's not be hasty!" Genma stated while using his free foot to start kicking what appeared to be a young girl, no more than eight, wearing only Ranma's now over-sized shirt, in the head. He did not appear to be holding back either.

"Fuga?" Ranma asked ignoring the blows as if she didn't feel them, before slamming Genma into the ground, face first.

"It...hurts..." Genma groaned into the dirt. He was suddenly hoisted back up vertically by Ranma.

"Fuga!" Ranma slammed him the other way, this time into the pond. Genma instantly became a panda. Ranma then again hoisted him back vertically, showing no extra strain at Genma's sudden increase in mass and slammed him into the dirt again. She then repeated slamming him into the pond.

"Daddy..." Kasumi stood beside her father. "...why are you friends with them?"

"They weren't like this. Not before the awful training accident at Jusenkyo." Soun replied watching the scene of violence occurring in his backyard.

"I think she's...erm...he's going to kill Mr. Saotome." Nabiki stated in awe at the sight of a little girl swinging around a giant-panda as if it were a plastic toy instead of a 250 pound animal.

"Oh that's not right! Little girls shouldn't beat up their parents." Kasumi exclaimed and hurried outside.

"Ranma-chan! Please stop this, this instant." Kasumi commanded drawing up beside Ranma who was currently holding her father under the water. Bubbles and gurgling noises came from the pond.

"Fuga?"

"Why? Because I think he's learned his lesson by now." Kasumi told her.

Ranma glanced at the now weakly struggling panda and then back up at Kasumi. "Fuga?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Fuga." Ranma agreed finally and yanked the now unconscious panda out of the water. She then hoisted him above her head with both hands.

"Come along, let's put him back inside." Kasumi commanded and headed back in. Ranma followed. Once inside Ranma dumped her father unceremoniously on the floor. The other Tendo's gave her a wide berth as she passed by them.

"Fuga..." Ranma apologised.

"Oh that's okay Ranma. It must be stressful dealing with a pervert like your father." Kasumi nodded.

"Errr, Kasumi." Nabiki leaned in closed to her sister and whispered. "Can you really understand her? Him I mean?"

"Oh yes." Kasumi smiled cheerfully one hand to her cheek. "She's got such a good vocabulary for such a young girl."

"...okay..." Nabiki nervously inched away from Kasumi and hoped the madness wasn't as infectious as it seemed.

"Fuga." Ranma complained holding her arms up. The long sleeves completely covered her arms and hung limp and damp. Ranma pouted.

"Awwww! Cute!" Akane remarked before catching herself and slapping her own cheek. _What are you thinking! It's the scary pervert!_

Soun still stood staring out over the yard and missed the cavity causing cuteness. "...the horror of Jusenkyo..."

"Do you have any dry clothes?" Kasumi asked Ranma.

"Fuga." Ranma shook her head sadly. "Fuga."

"Oh! Only a set of black dresses..." Kasumi blushed. "...let's not go there." The eldest Tendo thought for a moment and then her face brightened and she held her hand out. "I know...come along Ranma-chan!"

"Fuga?" Ranma questioned and obeyed as a strange compulsion to follow Kasumi's orders filled her head, and she took Kasumi's hand. "Fuga."

"Hot water?"

"Fuga."

"Ranma says hot water will turn him back into a human." Kasumi informed the room just before they exited into the hallway. She led the diminutive Ranma to the stairs.

"Now, I'm pretty certain we've still got some of Akane's old clothes from when she was around your size." Kasumi smiled and stepped onto the first.

Ranma followed. There was a loud crack and the girl fell through as the wood gave way under her weight.

"Fuga." Ranma sighed buried to her waist in the stairs.

"Oh my..." Kasumi stared in surprise as Ranma began dragging herself out of the hole she was in. "...exactly how much _*do*_ you weigh?"

"Fuga." Ranma explained standing up once in the hallway.

"One...point...two...tonnes or so...oh my."

x X x

"Akane...this is _*insane*_!" Nabiki hissed to her sister as they watched their normal life vanish under the bizarreness the Saotomes had brought into their home, like once you invited a vampire in, you gave it free reign.

"I know!" Akane hissed back. Their father was currently boiling up a kettle and talking about the true horror of Jusenkyo, although neither girl was paying attention.

"He turned into a panda...and Ranma turned into a little girl!" Nabiki exclaimed. "And Kasumi seems to have finally snapped."

"Screw that! I want to learn that technique he used to pick up a panda when he was so small!" Akane stated. "Imagine what I could do to Kuno with such a technique. Heheheheh!"

"Be serious Akane!"

"I am."

"Not you too..." Nabiki swallowed and backed away from her little sister.

"Are you feeling okay Nabiki?" Akane asked reaching to feel if her sister had a temperature.

"I'm fine!" Nabiki snapped slapping her hands away.

"Geez Nabiki! You don't need to be violent. I'm only wanting to help."

"Yewoch!" Genma's scream of pain drew their attention back to him in time to hear their father explain.

"So...with cold water you turn into a panda. But with hot water you turn back to normal!"

"It needn't be _*quite* _so hot Tendo." a steaming and pink Genma replied.

"And so, Ranma...huh? Where'd he go?" Soun realised the boy was missing.

"Kasumi took her someplace." Akane supplied.

"Oh, anyway with cold water he becomes a girl and hot water reverses it. That problems not so bad."

"Actually Tendo, it is." Genma nodded sagely as he took an enlightened, but serious pose. "He does not just turn into a girl. It is far more insidious that just that..."

The Tendo's exchanged worried looks between themselves.

"Surely it isn't so bad old friend?" Soun reasoned.

"He turns into multiple girls."

"You've lost me old friend."

"Hmm. How to explain...each time he gets splashed with cold water he becomes a different one. He's got five curses in one." Genma raised his fingers and began ticking off the characteristics of each form. "One is smart like a doctor or something. One is an evil devil-woman, don't _*ever*_ upset her. One is sneaky like a ninja. You've seen that little form that is unreasonably strong and tough....and the last one is the most dangerous..." Genma finished ominously.

Soun swallowed. "Surely you're exaggerating the last one..."

"No old friend. If Ranma is a blonde girl of average height...stay away from him. Under no circumstances spar or talk or do anything with him like that, if you value your sanity...you'll find hot water as soon as possible."

"Remind me why you're friends with them Daddy." Nabiki asked snarkily after hearing Genma's warnings.

"But aside from that, he's a perfectly normal young man who needs to be married as soon as possible!" Genma laughed.

"I agree!" Soun joined in.

"This is madness." Nabiki groaned head in her hands.

The laughter ceased like a light turned off in a power cut as Ranma walked back in carrying a stack of place mats. Genma's eyes widened in disgust at the sight of Ranma-chan dressed in a frilly pink dress and a white apron with a yellow chick on it. Nabiki looked up in time to see Ranma casually flick the mats like throwing daggers, into place on the table with amazing precision. She then turned and left.

A few moments later, she returned with a bowl of steaming rice perfectly balanced on each short arm and one on her head. She proceeded to place what were hot enough bowls they should of required a towel to hold onto the table. Once again she left.

Ranma returned again with the same and repeated the procedure. Kasumi came into the room as well carrying the rest of the food.

"I've decided we should have something to eat while we talk this whole situation over." Kasumi stated as she passed off various utensils to Ranma to place. The diminutive cursed martial artist went about the duty with a professional air, as if she had done this many times before.

"Boy...WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" Genma finally exploded.

"Fuga?" Ranma blinked and stared impassively up at the much larger Genma. "Fuga. Fuu."

"I see." Genma pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose while his eyes were closed. "Idiot! You know I can't understand you like that!" he slapped his hand against her head. Ranma didn't react but Genma grit his teeth and waved the now throbbing limb around. Ranma's head was as hard as iron.

"Fuga." Ranma stated in a way that sounded suspiciously like she had called Genma an idiot.

"Seeing as she has no clothes left to wear until her last set dry out because of her curse, she'll have to do with using some of Akane's old stuff." Kasumi told the elder Saotome. "Ranma-chan has also been helping me cook all this." Kasumi indicated the food. "She's explained she has detailed files on cooking." Kasumi grinned. "And likes to serve and clean. Isn't that nice?"

"You're making her sound like a robot Kasumi." Nabiki said poking at the food nearby her. It smelled good and she took a large mouthful. It was good.

"That because she is. She's a gynoid." Kasumi stated.

"Hack! Cough!" Nabiki choked in mid-swallow before taking a big gulp of water. "What!?"

The middle Tendo's head swivelled around so fast you would think she might have given herself whiplash. She studied the short blonde form of Ranma and noticed the little things that proved Kasumi's statement likely true. Ranma stood strangely still, and when she moved it had a steady, controlled smoothness about it that no human could match. And, she didn't seem to blink.

"Bad Nabiki." Kasumi scolded seeing exactly what Nabiki was thinking. "You won't sell her to the nearest robotics manufacturer."

"How about just an arm?"

"Nabiki!"

"We could steal it back..."

"No!"

Ranma stood curiously by and watched the sister's argue over selling her. She did not feel any concern over this, if Kasumi her new master wanted that it was okay. She existed to serve after all.

That was when a dark shadow fell over her and despite being an emotionless android she felt a shiver run down her spine. She rotated her head around and up to see Soun Tendo staring down at her, his face covered in the shadows and eyes glowed dangerously.

"...fu..ga...?" Ranma shuddered.

"Uh ho. I recognise that look..." Akane stated with awe and dread. Kasumi and Nabiki also stared in worry as they too recognised it.

"Um...Daddy...I wouldn't do that." Kasumi pleaded.

"Ranma...you're..." Soun stated and suddenly burst forward and hugged the girl tightly. "So cute! Soun Tendo moustache rub!"

"Fuga!" Ranma yelped in terror as the bristly moustache rubbed her cheek. Soun then tried to lift poor Ranma up for the second phase of his attack. Unfortunately he wasn't expecting the little girl to weigh so much. There was a loud pop.

"Oh Kami-sama! My back!"

"Fuga..."

End Chapter

Cool, this seemed to be well received and I'm having fun with this one. We'll see where it goes from here.

Okay, guesses as to all the cursed forms :)

1. Older and intelligent. (No more to go on yet)

2. Evil but lightened by Ranma's niceness. (One guess was Mistress 9. Pretty similar character design, so I can see how that happened. But wrong)

3. Sneaky. Likes Traps. Calm and quiet. High ponytail. (Some people might get this one by now)

4. Fuga. Flandre from Princess Resurrection. Easy one.

5. Blonde and dangerous according to Genma. (hmm)

**Ranma One of Six - Chapter 2**

Fixed a load of grammar problems...whoops

"Fuga." Ranma stated with contentment as she polished the Tendo dojo's floor. It wasn't dirty by any stretch of the imagination, but in this form, Ranma could detect the dirt a lot better than a human and so she continued to polish away at it.

She felt so content doing this for Kasumi, as if she had been made for it. It was bizarre really. Ranma knew once she changed back, he'd be so, so embarrassed at knowing he was currently wearing a frilly pink dress and basically doing any and all housework Kasumi had suggested. But at the minute, she had no cares in the world and just wanted to help her master. No worries about the curse, no worries about engagements, no worries about psycho-Chinese girls. All she had to worry about was completing this task and then getting another.

The door to the dojo slid open and a "Oh my..." was heard.

Ranma paused in her polishing and turned to see Kasumi standing in the doorway looking shocked.

"Fuga?" Ranma questioned, worried she had done something wrong.

"Oh no Ranma-chan, you've done nothing wrong..." Kasumi replied looking around in awe at how clean the dojo was. She could see her face clearly reflected in the floor. "...in fact it's better than perfect."

"Fuga!" Ranma exclaimed cheerfully and went back to polishing.

Kasumi finally shook off her awe at the dojo and looked at the happily working away gynoid. A bolt of guilt stabbed through her and she wondered if this was right to take advantage of a their guest in such away...although, Ranma-chan did seem happy to help so it'd be okay...and it was refreshing to have a helping hand around here, seeing as neither of her sister's lifted a hand to help clean or cook.

"Oh, yes. Ranma-chan." Kasumi remembered what she had came to tell her.

"Fuga?"

"It's nearly midnight. Everyone else has gone to bed now and I'll take you to your room."

"Fuga?" Ranma asked.

"The stairs..." Kasumi pondered before realising. "Oh...no, the spare room is downstairs." Kasumi absently made a note to look into seeing how much it would cost to reinforce the stairs and first floor so Ranma-chan could clean up there too.

Ranma looked down at the patch of floor she had been polishing and pointed. "Fuga."

"Oh you don't need to finish that off." Kasumi smiled.

"Fuga. Fuga. Fuuuga." Ranma explained.

Kasumi blinked. "You'd rather stay up and keep cleaning? You're not tired?"

Ranma shook her head.

"Not even a little?"

"Fuga."

"Well, if you're sure...I'll let you get on with it." Kasumi smiled.

"Fuga."

"Good night too Ranma-chan." Kasumi slid the door shut behind her as the gynoid went back to work. _Ranma-chan was so helpful. Maybe the engagement wouldn't be so bad after all_, Kasumi pondered heading to bed.

x X x

Ranma jerked her head up in surprise when a gauge appeared in her head, warning that her power levels were at warning level.

_This is new_, she thought curiously selecting the help part. Immediately after choosing that she knew her batteries were running low and needed recharging. She realised this had never happened before since she'd never been in this form long enough for the batteries to drain completely. _How to recharge?_ Ranma queried.

A set of detailed files and schematics appeared in her memories. With that information Ranma set off on a new task. After all, logically she needed to keep functioning if she was to keep her master happy.

x X x

Nabiki awoke the next morning to the sounds of someone thumping around, as if searching for something. Groggily cursing whoever invented mornings, she climbed out of bed, scratched her head sleepily before sticking it out the door in time to see Mr. Saotome storm past grumbling about finding some ungrateful child.

Nabiki tiredly headed downstairs and stepped into the hallway. She paused as something tickled the back of her mind and turned back to the stairs while trying to figure out what caused her to be confused.

Her brain was slowly shifting into higher gears as she realised the hole in the stairs had been fixed...or it had never happened. So, she prayed for the second. The sounds and smells of cooking drew her towards the kitchen and she would have gone in if not for the strange buzzing noise she felt, more than heard coming from nearby.

"Huh? What's that?" Nabiki yawned tracing the noise to the cupboard under the stairs. She startled awake when she noticed a green and white glow pulsing from the crack between the stairway cupboard door and floor.

"Ow." Nabiki pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Okay Nabiki, you are not seeing a ghostly green glow from under the stairs...it's just your imagination playing tricks on you..."

She glanced away, counted to five and turned back. It still glowed and buzzed like something from a horror movie. Nabiki was a logical girl and she knew there had to be an explanation for this, even if it was something crazy like aliens living under the stairs. At least that wouldn't be impossible, improbable, but not impossible like gender and species changing curses.

With shaky fingers she reached for the handle and gripped it tight. "On three girl..." she told herself, counted to three and then yanked the door open.

Nabiki relaxed upon seeing the inert form of Ranma stood on a weird round platform that had what appeared to be electricity arcing around under her feet and another similar device hanging above her head. The cursed martial artist seemed to be sleeping, in fact, she even had a little snot balloon expanding and contracting from one nostril.

Nabiki studied the strange contraption for a moment before shrugging and shutting the door.

"Whatever floats your boat Saotome." she muttered trying to ignore the fact he or was it she? Had built some strange device under their stairs sometime through the night that did god knows what and was sleeping in it.

The morning proceeded pretty normal from then on for Nabiki. She got washed, dressed and finally headed downstairs to grab a bite to eat before school. Sometime during this period Ranma had awoken and resumed male form as he an his father were currently fighting over their breakfast in a display of skill, speed and sheer greed.

"They're energetic first thing aren't they." Nabiki remarked as she chewed and watched from a safe distance.

"Oh my...are you certain this is safe?" Kasumi asked rescuing a bowl from certain doom as it got knocked off the table.

"Hahaha! Of course Kasumi. Why when Genma and I were training we had to do this for every meal." Soun remarked from behind his paper.

"Indeed Tendo. Great times. Great time...oi boy! That was my pickle!"

"Snooze you lose pops!"

"Have at you!"

The three girl's looked on as the contest for breakfast devolved into a free-for-all and ended with the Saotomes rolling around the room punching and kicking each other.

"I'm being punished." Nabiki groaned.

"Hmm, that's interesting." Soun stated.

"Me being punished? Is that all you can say Daddy?"

"There was a power brownout during the early hours of this morning in the area. Says there was a sudden massive demand for electricity shortly after two o'clock. Apparently it knocked out all the lighting in the district until they brought up another plant. I wonder what could cause that?" Soun wondered aloud.

Ranma broke off and raised his head from his tussle with his father, he looked guilty about something for a moment before a blow to his cheek set him back to beating on Genma.

"Now this one, this story has to be a practical joke." Soun spoke again. "Police are searching for a small girl in a pink dress caught on camera driving a Isuzu truck just after one this morning."

"Small girl?" Kasumi blinked.

"Pink dress?" Nabiki glanced at Kasumi and as one they looked over at Ranma who had finally separated from his father.

"Umm...what?" he asked nervously noticing the stares.

"Do you know how to drive Ranma?" Kasumi asked.

"Umm...nope..." Ranma replied, technically telling the truth. "...oh look at the time!" He stated pointing at his non-existent watch and fled the room.

"Suspicious." Kasumi and Nabiki agreed together.

x X x

Nabiki leant against the wall, listening in on the Saotomes as they talked in the spare room. It wasn't spying, just gathering of useful information for use at a later date.

"School?" she heard Ranma ask.

"Well we are going to be staying here a while." Genma replied.

_Not if I have anything to do with it_, Nabiki thought and took that as her cue.

"It's the same school me and Akane go to!" Nabiki announced with fake cheerfulness and a wave as she walked past the open door. "I'll see you there!"

"Wait up Nabiki! I'll walk with you!" Akane came rushing after Nabiki. She clutched her bag tightly to her chest and looked worried over something.

"I need to go on ahead and do stuff." Nabiki told her sister. "Poor Ranma here won't know the way. Why don't you show him?"

"Me? Show that..."

Nabiki interrupted her by leaning in close and whispering in her ear. "If you don't, certain information about a certain doctor will reach a certain Tendo." Nabiki grinned as Akane paled.

"Y...you...wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't I?" Nabiki's grin widen, and with that she quickly left Akane to deal with the Saotome.

Nabiki was still mulling over various scenarios in her head of what the day could bring as she closed the gate to the yard. She could just try and ignore the situation at school...but knowing how certain obsessive students would eventually find the link between her and the Saotomes, and she had no intention of being associated with Ranma...so maybe it would be best to shift the attention off to someone else like say her little sister, who was used to dealing with weirdo's.

"Yeah, that'll work...huh?" Nabiki muttered and halted seeing the large Isuzu truck parked outside the dojo. She stared for a moment remembering the news, before coming to the conclusion that this was all Ranma's fault and would be best if she left it well alone.

Nabiki hurried off to school to escape the insanity.

x X x

Ranma followed after Akane, as she led the way towards the school his father had somehow enrolled him in. Unless the elder Saotome had had this pre-planned in advance, Ranma had no idea when he had done so.

Akane so far had barely said a word to him, as if she were afraid to talk or something. She also kept sending nervous glances his way, which he could understand. He was some kind of freak with this curse...

When they came to the water canals by the roadside, that were fenced off with a tall chain-link fence, Ranma decided to hop up and walk along that. Maybe Akane wouldn't feel as nervous if he was further away?

He watched as Akane looked back to where he had been and stumbled when she noticed him gone. She held her book bag to her chest and glanced around nervously until with a blink she realised where he was.

"What are you doing?" Akane questioned tensely.

"Walking." Ranma replied.

Akane sent him a withering glare and Ranma scratched his head in confusion. He'd only just told her what she wanted to know.

"What?" Ranma asked as Akane sniffed and continued on, picking up the pace. Ranma matched her pace on the fence. "Hey, Akane what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just stay away from me when we get to school." Akane snapped.

"I've done something wrong right? Well whatever it is I'm sorry okay...I know I'm not the smartest guy around...I mean even some of my forms think I'm stupid...what?" Ranma broke off as Akane stopped and looked up at him curiously.

"What do you mean even 'your forms think you're stupid'? Aren't they you?" Akane asked, nervousness replaced with curiosity.

"Yeah...sort of..." Ranma admitted. "...but I know I think differently when the curses activate. I mean, like last night...when I was...erm...helping Kasumi. I didn't care about anything but helping her. You know, I didn't even care with what she made me wear..." Ranma flushed pink in embarrassment at admitting that.

"So you _*really*_ were a girl?"

"No! It's different. I was a robot thingy." Ranma waved his hands frantically.

"That looks like a little girl." Akane deadpanned.

"Exactly...wait! That's not what I mean..." Ranma actually wobbled as he tried to salvage the situation. He paused and blinked as Akane began chuckling.

_He's cute when flustered...ack!_ Akane slapped herself once again. _Bad thoughts!_

"I think I understand." Akane muttered rubbing her cheek. "But still, it's best if we don't hang around each other at school okay?"

"Yeah. I know. Besides, I'm not planning on hanging around here much longer. I need a cure. I got no time for engagements or stuff and anyhow, it's not fair for anyone to put up with a freak like me. As soon as I can, I'll get outta you guys' hair."

Akane cocked her head to the side as she studied Ranma. He'd actually talked to her and not at her like other guys, weird...and her first impression of him had been of a real pervert, but now it seemed, if he was telling the truth...

"Ranma?"

"Yo?"

"Maybe you're okay after all. A total goofball weirdo, but okay." Akane stated.

"Thanks..." Ranma frowned, wait did she just insult and complement him at the same time?

"That's it boy, the Saotome charm is working. Quickly get down there and move to phase two!" Genma whispered loudly enough in Ranma's ear that Akane clearly heard, somehow sneaking up on him when they had been talking.

"Go for it daughter! Get up there and seduce him!" Soun appeared and patted Akane on the back.

"Yaaah!" Ranma scooted away from Genma like a crab.

"Yaaah!" Akane leapt away in shock.

"What the HELL POPS!" Ranma bellowed.

"Quickly boy! You've got the mood prepared. Go on and kiss the..." Genma was cut off mid-rant by Ranma kicking his feet out from under him. Genma went sideways, still in his rant pose like a statue and hit the water of the canal. One instant, angry looking panda glared up.

"What was that you were saying Pops? Whoa!" Ranma laughed before having to leap out of the way as the soaking wet bear launched itself at him. He dropped to the spot the Tendo's had just vacated and Genma followed him down, taking a swipe with his paw. Ranma somersaulted away.

"Ha! Watch this...waaah!" His summersault ended right in the path of an old lady sprinkling water over her driveway. One instant later Ranma was waving her arms wildly before she slipped flat on her ass and cracked her head off the ground.

"Owie..." Ranma groaned and sat up rubbing her head.

Akane's eyes went wide, her face pale and then she developed a nervous twitch in her left eye. A few strands of hair poked up randomly from her head as well. Soun blinked curiously as Genma went white as a sheet and did a panda impression of the scream by Edvard Munch. The wind blew past with a ghostly moan promising untold horror.

"Saotome?" Soun queried curious as to why the reaction.

"It's over Tendo! We must retreat!" Genma came back to life and panda-signed. "Game over man! Game over!" Genma then fled back the way they had came. Soun took another look at Ranma, noting the twin ponytails and odango hairstyle and decided that if this form terrified his best friend so, he should take Genma's advice.

"My butt hurts." Ranma complained as she moved over to Akane. "Why'd they leave?" Ranma then noticed Akane hadn't moved since she had been splashed. Ranma waved her hand in front of the other girl's face.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeh!" Ranma squealed and began bouncing around in full blown panic. "Oh god! I've broken another one! There's only Nabiki left and then I've broken a full set of Tendo's! Waah! Nooo! Nabiki'll give me a lawsuit! I don't want a lawsuit! It sounds brown and itchy!"

Ranma then grabbed Akane by the shoulders and shook her. "Noo! Akane wake up! I didn't mean to!" The blonde then sank down to her knees and cried into Akane's stomach. "I'm sorry!"

"Ranma..." Akane spoke, her voice little more than a whisper.

"Akane! You're okay! I was sooo worried!" Ranma looked up with wibbly-wobbly eyes full of tears.

"...let go."

Ranma let go and watched in confused concern as Akane walked shakily over to a nearby lamp post and crossed her arms against it, before resting her head on her arms. Her shoulder's began to shake.

"...A...Akane?" Ranma whimpered.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA!" Akane howled in laughter. She began thumping her fist against the lamppost at the absurd hilarity of the situation. She finally realised what Spring of Drowned Otaku's Model Collection was and what Ranma's curses were.

"...um...Akane...?" Ranma questioned still on her knees, her shirt had drooped off one shoulder.

"HAHAAHAHHAHAHA...wheeze...Sailor...HAHAHAHAA...moon! BWAHHAAHAA!"

"Okay, this is too weird even for me." Ranma stood up and scratched her head as Akane slowly wound down. She looked over her shoulder and wiped tears from her eyes. At seeing Ranma, she burst out laughing again.

"Bwahahahahahaha!" Akane pointed.

"Ooooooookay." Ranma drawled and spun on her heels. "That's enough of that. I need to go back and get a bath."

"Hahaa...wait Ranma...hahah!" Akane grabbed her arm above the elbow. "Hehe, it'll take you too long to go back now." she giggled.

"I'm not going to school like this." Ranma indicated her hair. "I look like I've got a plate of spaghetti and meatballs on my head."

"It just needs hot water right? I've got an idea..." Akane stated pulling Ranma the way she wanted go. "...meatball head."

"Oi!" Ranma pouted.

"Sorry." Akane snickered, not sorry in the least and was amazed at Ranma's mannerisms. It was like seeing an anime character come to life right before her. "Say Ranma...do you have any...you know accessories?"

"Assessiwotsits?" Ranma blinked confused by the large words.

"You know, maybe a pen? Or compact?" Akane giggled again as they walked along the street.

"Is this one?" Ranma asked pulling out a golden broach from behind her back.

"Oh. My. God." Akane breathed eyes wide. "It's real!"

"So it is? Cool! I got accessories." Ranma chuckled then went serious. "So what is it?"

"Hold it in the air."

"Like this?" Ranma waved it above her head.

"Yeah. Now say moon prism power, make up." Akane snickered.

"Moon Prism Pow...waitaminute. You're trying to make me look stupid aren't you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Akane stated fingers crossed behind her back.

Ranma narrowed her eyes before winding her arm back.

"Ranma super throw!" Ranma shouted tossing the broach away over the rooftops.

"Ack! Do you know what you just did?" Akane stared as the broach vanished into the distance.

"Yeah. Saved my dignity." Ranma nodded seriously. Something told her it was a bad idea to do what Akane had asked.

"That's...debatable." Akane deadpanned staring at Ranma hair. "How could you just throw it away?"

"Feh! It comes back every time I change into this form." Ranma stated rolling her eyes. Akane blinked. Oh.

"Ranma? Do you have a pen?" Asked Akane with a shifty expression.

"Why?" Ranma narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to make me look stupid again?"

"No, no. I'll need to sign for the...erm...hot water."

"Oh why didn't you say so!" Ranma cheerfully told her slapping a pink pen with a crystal on top into her hand. Akane's eyes bugged out for a second before she clutched the pen to her chest.

"Bwahahahahhaa! It's real too! With this! With this I can finally avoid boys! Muhahahaha!" She blinked. "Huh? Ranma?"

Ranma was cowering by the road edge. "Scary..."

x X x

Ranma stood and sighed by the large sign of the acupuncture clinic Akane had led her to. Supposedly she'd get hot water here. Akane was creeping her out with that evil giggle she kept using every time she looked at the pen she had given the girl.

"What a way to start the day..." Ranma sighed again. With a clack a bony hand landed on her shoulder. Ranma froze and slowly creaked her head around to come face to face with a bleached white skull.

"Yaaaaaaaa!" Ranma fell on her butt and did a perfect impersonation of the sailormoon backwards butt-shuffle until she hit the other wall, where upon she pasted herself to it arms failing before her face.

"Oh pardon me." a young man with glasses apologised to a shaking Ranma. "Nothing to worry about dear! This is just Betty, my skeleton." he grinned.

"Yaaa! He's removed his skeleton and uses it to beat people with!" Ranma cried in terror.

"..." the man absently rubbed a finger to his jaw too stunned to reply. That was definitely...different.

"Ranma here's the hot...oh Dr. Tofu!" Akane paused in the gateway as she saw the good doctor. Akane bowed politely holding the kettle.

"Good morning. You haven't been around lately. No new injuries?" Tofu asked.

"No sir. I mean, I wouldn't be doing anything to get some." Akane muttered shyly.

"Ohohohoh!" Ranma suddenly sprung out of nowhere to laugh beside Akane's ear. "Akane! Soooo sweet! Why didn't you tell me you were in lo..uff!"

"Shut up idiot!" Akane slugged Ranma with the kettle in the stomach.

"Meanie..." Ranma groaned holding the kettle.

"Still as boisterous as ever I see." Tofu chuckled.

"Heh heh. Yeah." Akane blushed and rubbed her head as Tofu walked past heading into the clinic.

"Don't ever embarrass me like that again!" Akane warned poking Ranma in the breast bone. "Do. You. Understand?" Each jab sent Ranma further back until she fell on her behind for the third time that morning.

"Yeah." Ranma answered meekly.

"Okay..." Akane looked around, making sure no one was watching and then grabbed Ranma and dragged her around the near corner and down the small alleyway by the clinic. "Don't use the water till I try this pen out."

"Akane, it does write. I've used it before." Ranma pointed out.

"You really do turn into them don't you." Akane eyed Ranma with a half-lidded stare.

"Heh, heh. Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment." Akane stated monotonously. "Turn around."

"Okay." Ranma turned away.

"Shut your eyes."

"Is this a surprise?" Ranma queried.

"Just do it!" Akane grimaced. She double and then triple checked Ranma was looking away and kept her eyes shut. "Now how did that show used to go? Hmmm. Oh yeah. Got it! Moon Power! Make me a plain ordinary school girl that no one notices...with glasses!"

"Can I open my eyes now?" Ranma asked missing the sparkly lightshow.

"Okay Ranma. How do I look?" Akane asked.

Ranma turned around. She blinked. The girl before her wore glasses and had short brown hair and average features. In fact, she was so average she'd disappear in a crowd easily.

"Well? Did it work?" Akane asked again tapping her foot.

"Ummm...who are you?" Ranma pointed.

"Should have known..." Akane muttered picking her face off the ground after the face-fault she had just done. "It's me Akane!"

"Oh!" Ranma's face brightened in realisation and Akane smirked. "Nice to meet you. I have a friend called Akane too!"

"Grrrrrrr..." Akane growled and got in Ranma's face, who laughed nervously. "Listen spaghetti for brains. See this?" Akane waved the pen. Ranma's eyes followed it closely.

"Yeah..."

"Who did you just give it too?"

"Akane."

"So who am I?"

"Um, Akane?"

"Right. So you understand."

"Yeah. Waitaminute! You stole it from her!" Ranma accused pointing angrily. "In the name of martial artists everywhere I will punish you!"

"Oh for the love of!" Akane grabbed the kettle and poured the hot water over Ranma instantly turning her back to a him. Ranma blinked for a few seconds and Akane could see in his eyes he was re-going over everything that had just happened even as his hands immediately went to his hair to undo the odango buns and tuft of hair sticking out of them.

"Okay...explain slowly what the bleep is going on!!!" Ranma bellowed tying his hair back into a simple ponytail.

"On the way, we're already late as it is!" Akane grabbed Ranma and raced out the alley.

x X x

_Where are they?_ Nabiki thought staring at the gathering in the school yard. All waiting for her sister to arrive. So far there was no sign of her sister. _You better not have done anything to her Saotome_, Nabiki mentally growled, conveniently forgetting she had been the one to leave Akane alone with him.

"Hey, who's that guy in the white top?" a girl nearby asked drawing Nabiki out of her thoughts. She recognised him. It was Ranma...so where was her sister?

"No idea." Nabiki remarked, keeping quiet about knowing him for the moment. She looked around again. _Wait, who's he walking with? _Nabiki wondered as he and another girl she did not recognise just calmly moved through the crowd and entered the school.

The bell rang signalling the beginning of school and no sign of Akane. Nabiki grew concerned and then angry.

_What did you do Saotome? And who is that girl?_

x X x

Ranma sighed in boredom. After introductions had been made he had been assigned a seat and the lesson had begun. Booooooring with a capital bore. He was about to doze off when the classroom door slammed opened.

"Where is he?" a tall boy wearing hakama waved a bucket about. "Show me the devil Ranma Saotome!"

"Kuno..." Ranma heard Akane state in disgust. _Devil? How does he know?_ Ranma blinked and concentrated on remembering if he had done anything to this guy in his demon-lady form. He drew a blank even as everybody pointed at him.

"Thanks." Kuno nodded to the class. "Have at thee!" he toss the water right at Ranma who immediately flipped up and over the dangerous liquid. Screams and shrieks of shock and rage were heard as anyone behind Ranma got soaked.

"Kuno! In the hall!" The teacher bellowed trying to regain control of the class.

"Never!" Kuno shouted raising his boken to strike. "Never shall I accept your engagement to the fair Akane!"

"What?!" Ranma and Akane paled as the class erupted around them.

"Face defeat at the hands of the Blue Thunder!" Kuno charged and slashed towards Ranma with no concern about anyone around the boy. A girl in front of where Ranma had landed shrieked. Ranma reacted knowing Kuno's attack would hit her even if he moved.

Ranma yanked her out the chair she sat in and wrapped his leg around one of the chair's legs, dragged it into the aisle and with swift push sent it careening into the crazed boy's shins.

Kuno hissed in pain and staggered for a moment before standing back up. "I fight onfff!" he received a desk to the face as Ranma flipped it into the air with his foot and then kicked it at the kendoist.

"Whoa! Like a Jackie Chang movie!" somebody exclaimed as Ranma put the girl down.

"Sorry about that." Ranma apologised to the surprised girl as Kuno somehow managed to slice the desk in half with just his wooden sword. Ranma was gone by this time.

"Where is he..." Kuno began to rant before Ranma landed on his head and sprang off forcing Kuno to his knees. Kuno rubbed the back of his neck and turned to face Ranma.

"This isn't the place for a fight!" Ranma growled. "Let take this outside!" he ran out of the classroom.

"I follow!" Kuno gave chase, followed by Akane and then the rest of the class.

"Isn't this great!" Someone exclaimed. "A battle and whoever wins gets Akane's hand!"

"Oi!" Akane snapped. She was still stunned at just how fast Ranma had moved back there to protect that girl from Kuno. Blink and you'd have missed it.

_Just how good is Ranma?_ she wondered suddenly feeling threatened.

Ranma glanced up ahead and spotted an open window. _Heh, perfect._

"Hey Kuno follow me!" Ranma challenged vaulting out the window.

"I will!" Kuno followed and his eyes bulged in shock as he realised...

"Ranma! This is the third floor!" Akane shouted in concern.

"No problem!" Ranma chuckled. Looking down he spotted the swimming-pool below. "Awwwwwww crap."

"Lucky there's a pool down there." Someone commented as Ranma hit the water followed by Kuno.

"Oh no..." Akane whispered and raced for the nearest stairwell.

The moment he changed Ranma's mind began racing quickly seeking an escape route. Judging by the shadow above her, the deranged Kuno boy, the one with no regard for anyone's safety was floating on the surface.

Good, she could that as cover. Getting out of the pool and away fast was another problem altogether. It was then that a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her torso and pulled her up to the surface.

"I...fight...on!" Kuno exclaimed squeezing something sensitive. Ranma's eyes widened in surprise at being groped. Kuno was just as surprised. Ranma's elbow came out the water and slammed into his jaw. Kuno's arms loosened allowing Ranma to spin around and grab Kuno by the shoulders.

Kuno blinked at the sight of a beautiful older woman glaring angrily at him. He went to speak when Ranma slammed her knee deep into Kuno's crotch. Kuno whimpered as he curled up into a ball of agony.

"Serves you right groper." Ranma snapped, before grabbing hold of Kuno's water-logged hakama and dragged him to the pool edge, making sure she kept her back to the school, hoping the distance would make it too hard to see the differences between this form and the natural one.

Ranma climbed out the pool and dragged Kuno onto the tiles. She didn't notice the thin plastic rectangle with a disc inside it, drop out of her shirt while she dragged the groaning boy out the water. She stood up quickly and ran at the fence getting as much speed up as she could and jumped. She caught the top of the fence, just and hoisted herself up and over, then she disappeared into the grounds.

x X x

Kuno slowly unfurled himself as the pain receded to just the throbbing ache that would last half an hour or so. That had not been Saotome. That had been a mature and stunning beauty. Which meant...

"Saotome you coward! How dare you run away!" Kuno climbed to his feet, or tried to as something slipped out from under him sending back to the tiles. He slowly sat back up and checked around for what had tripped him up. He spotted the plastic case and reached for it.

"What is this?" Kuno wondered picking up the disc. "Hmm, that mature beauty must have dropped this." he pocketed it so he could hand it back when he found her.

x X x

Ranma leant back against one of the larger trees in the grounds and breathed in deeply, attempting to calm herself. _This would likely turn out bad,_ she thought. _Kuno got a good look at me and even if anyone else didn't he'll know._

The sound of a footstep made her instantly spin and face the noise, bring her hands up into a ready stance.

"Ranma?" Akane's voice asked hesitatively.

"Ah, Akane. You startled me." Ranma relaxed with a sigh as Akane gave her the once over. Akane didn't recognise her and she appeared a normal person, aside from being older than Ranma was.

"Are you crazy? Jumping into a pool on your own free will?" the girl finally asked.

"Ranma didn't realise there was a pool there." Ranma answered while attempting to squeeze some water out of her pants without taking them off.

"Oh...anyway I brought hot water." Akane showed Ranma the kettle she carried.

"Thank you." Ranma took the kettle and suddenly poured it over the ground to Akane's surprise. "But I'm not going to use it."

"What? Why?"

"Put it this way, there are things I need to check up on and as I've been through school once I don't have any intention of doing so again." Ranma smiled and gently patted Akane's cheek. "You should get back now."

Akane frowned as was about to protest when the sound of sloshing approach. The pair glanced around the tree and spotted Kuno stalking around seeking them no doubt.

"I'll distract him. You go." Akane told Ranma.

"Will you be okay?"

"I fight him everyday and win." Akane remarked confidently. "Go."

"I'll see you later." Ranma nodded as Akane stepped out from behind the tree and challenged Kuno. Ranma used that as her chance to disappear.

x X x

Ranma found a quiet spot in the sun and laid back waiting for her clothing to dry enough that she wouldn't be embarrassed walking into town. Her mind went over the recent memories that Ranma had gathered, analysing them, marking some for later perusal.

Her eyes hardened when thinking over how the Kuno boy had acted in the classroom. Total disregard for anyone's personal safety. That boy had to be unbalanced, a danger to all around himself. She knew the type and hoped Akane had been alright left alone.

"What time is it?" she wondered automatically raising her arm to check her watch. Close to ten. She lowered her arm. then paused as something stuck her odd.

"What the?" Ranma bolted up and checked her arm again. She was wearing a watch, an expensive Rolex. Ranma's frown deepened as she studied the time keeping device. It was hers, a gift from her younger brother. But Ranma couldn't of had it.

"Where did you come from?" she whispered in awe. "How can this be possible?"

As she stared she went cold, just what else could have appeared that she hadn't noticed...

x X x

It was starting to grow dark when Ranma returned, two bags in hand. She entered the Tendo home and removed her shoes, then announced her presence.

"Hello! It's me Ranma. I'm back!"

Kasumi was just cleaning up the dishes when she heard a voice she didn't recognise claim to be Ranma. She picked up a hand towel and stepped into the hallway to see what Ranma looked like this time.

Kasumi approached the woman standing in hall curiously. She was a fraction taller than herself. Her short dark black/blue hair was styled and she wore a reddish coloured conservative business suit.

"Oh my...Ranma?"

"Ah, Kasumi." Ranma placed the second bag over her left arm and held her free hand out to shake Kasumi's. "Pleasure to finally meet you for real. Ranma's memories are all well and good, but it's better to actually meet face to face."

"So polite." Kasumi smiled. "Um, which one are you?"

"I'm number one." Ranma smiled, brown eyes twinkling.

"Boy! What the hell are you wearing?" Genma shouted making his appearance.

"Oh boy, not this again..." Ranma sighed rubbing splayed fingers against her forehead.

Genma looked her up and down in disgust. "Where did you get them?"

"I exchanged money for these garments. Shopping."

"What? Where'd you get the money?" the elder Saotome asked with narrowed eyes.

"Mind your own business, Genma." Ranma replied icily.

"Holding out on me! And showing such disrespect! Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson boy! Prepare yourself!" Genma got ready to launch an attack.

"Oh my, please not in the house." Kasumi requested.

"I'll warn you once." Ranma stated, eyes hard and cold.

With a roar Genma charged and leapt at Ranma who flicked her sleeve and caught something that dropped out of it. She stabbed it into Genma's outstretched foot and pressed a button. Genma dropped like a rock as a few hundred kilovolts shot through him.

"I warned you. But did you listen?" Ranma sniffed and blew the homebrew taser she had used.

"Will he be alright?" Kasumi asked poking the shaking form of Genma with her foot.

"Unfortunately in a short while yes." Ranma sighed stepping over Genma. Kasumi walked alongside her and looked at the device she held. Ranma noticed.

"Home made taser, I didn't have enough left to buy a real one so I got the bits and built one. It won't last long but I doubt he'll try that again for a while. I needed something to defend myself seeing as I don't have my...anyway that's not important."

"Oh. You missed dinner..."

"That's fine, I got a bite while I was out." Ranma waved Kasumi's concern off.

"What else did you buy? May I ask?"

"Clothes for Ranma. Clothes for Ranma's gynoid form too, he didn't much like the pink."

"Ranma, I don't want to sound odd, but why are you referring to yourself in third person? Are you saying you're not Ranma at the moment?" Kasumi asked chewing her bottom lip.

Ranma sighed. "I started off as Ranma with shall we say my mannerisms. As time wore on though I began getting memories as well."

"Oh my...do all the..."

"Not that I've noticed from his memories."

"Then why would you?"

"I suspect it's to do with what's up here." Ranma tapped her head. "My mind is...different to the other forms."

"You sound worried." Kasumi stated.

"I do?" Ranma blinked. _She picked that up? Hmm, she's observant._

"I am, slightly. I'm noticing certain oddities. Don't worry yourself though Kasumi. I'm sure it's nothing dangerous." Ranma tried to reassure the girl or was it herself?

x X x

Later that evening, Akane's room.

"How did you do it?" Nabiki asked while doing stretches on Akane's bed and reading a magazine. It felt like the fiftieth time to Akane that Nabiki had asked that.

"I'm not telling." Akane replied trying to concentrate on her homework.

"Fine be that way."

The room remained silent for a minute, apart from the scratching of Akane's pen and Nabiki flipping pages.

"How did you do it?" Nabiki asked absently.

Crack. Akane's pen snapped and she growled.

"C'mon, just tell me and I'll leave you alone." she grinned.

A knock at the door drew their attention.

"Akane, may I come in?" Ranma's voice asked. Nabiki looked confused at who was speaking but Akane recognised the voice.

"Doors open Ranma."

"Ranma?" Nabiki repeated growing doubly curious. The door opened and Ranma slipped in, still dressed in her professional looking attire.

Nabiki whistled. "Looking smart Ranma. It is Ranma right?"

"Thank you." Ranma nodded. "Akane, I need to confirm something with you."

"Um, okay?"

"Do you still have that pen?"

_Pen?_ Nabiki's ear perked up curiously. Her 'there's something I don't know but I'm going to find out' detector picked up.

Akane's eyes shifted towards Nabiki for a second. Ranma noticed and wondered why Akane was reluctant for some reason with the middle Tendo in the room. She finally picked up her book bag and rummaged in it.

"Yeah, it's still here. Why?"

"Just confirming a theory. Thank you." Ranma replied and turned to leave.

"Oh Ranma!" Nabiki called out.

"Yes?"

"Kuno left this for me to give you." Nabiki picked a letter off the bed and held it out to Ranma. "I was really confused by what he wrote till I saw you." Nabiki smirked at some private joke.

"Kuno." Both Akane and Ranma sighed as Ranma took the letter and flipped it around. Nabiki grinned like a Cheshire cat and leaned in close to see the reaction. "Kuno-baby can't stand losing. Must be a challenge letter."

Ranma read who the letter was addressed to. To the Poolside Milf.

"WHAT!!" Ranma shrieked. "That bastard! I've only just gone twenty five!"

x X x

Later, the Kuno's Mansion.

The door to Tatewaki's door cracked open slowly as his loving sister slowly poked her head inside. She smirked seeing her dull-witted brother fast asleep, no doubt dreaming some twisted dream about the peasant girl he claimed to love.

She silently snuck in and began searching through his stuff, looking for something to annoy him with. Something glinted on the desk catching her attention and she picked it up.

"Hmm, a CD?" Kodachi snickered. "I would guess it is something for the mentally challenged." She proceeded to open his drawers and picked out a portable CD-player. She put the disc in, set it off and put one of the earphones to her ear.

The shrieking of computer code played through audio assaulted her ears like an 8bit computer loading and she yanked it away.

"Urg....and people call that music..." She muttered completely missing the point. A sinister smirk crossed her face and she tiptoed over to her sleeping brother. As carefully as she could she placed the earphones on his head and lowered the volume so as to not wake him outright.

"Ooh...hehehe." Kodachi caught herself as she almost screwed up and woke him with her twisted laughter. She then left grinning the entire way.

As she had hoped, Tatewaki began to have bad, strange dreams. Dreams of standing high above the earth and looking down upon it like a god. Bizarre nightmarish metal forms twisted together. Through it all one face kept coming back again and again and again.

"Sylia..." a voice whispered over and over.

End Chapter

Oh noes...plot is beginning to form. Well, I can't keep the slapstick constantly without it growing tiresome :P

I hope I didn't go too over the top with Ranma-Usagi. But from what I've seen you can't really. It seems every Ranma writer has to at least attempt to mix Ranma and Sailormoon at least once, so this is mine :P

Oh and with the advanced disc playing in a CD-player, well my excuse is reality is warping around Ranma to accommodate the forms and abilities by magic :P

Okay, guesses as to all the cursed forms :)

1. Older and intelligent. (Should be able to guess now. Hint I use the original series)

2. Evil but lightened by Ranma's niceness. (Yep Lust as most got it)

3. Sneaky. Likes Traps. Calm and quiet. High ponytail. (At least two people are on the money)

4. Fuga. Flandre from Princess Resurrection. Easy one.

5. Blonde and dangerous according to Genma. (Usagi Tsukino)

**Ranma One of Six - Chapter 3**

Nabiki couldn't help herself as she giggled away at the sight of Ranma's expression, somewhere between wanting to kill and mortification. Even though she was chuckling away at Ranma's expense, Nabiki took note that Ranma had claimed to be twenty five. Which was either a mistake on Ranma's part or something deeper.

"That...that...ooouu!" Ranma ground her teeth for a moment. Reigning in her emotions she took a deep calming breath.

"That sounds just like something Kuno would do." Akane muttered.

"Well go on! Read it." Nabiki pushed, wanting to know what it said.

"I won't give that _*boy*_ the satisfaction of knowing I paid him any attention." Ranma stated coldly and flicked the letter into Akane's bin by her desk. Turning stiffly on her heel, Ranma strode of the room.

"Wow!" Nabiki stated. "Ranma can really act the part can't he."

"If Kuno wrote something like that to you, you'd be pissed too." Akane pointed out.

"Akane, do you really think a jock like Ranma, who for the last ten years has probably spent his time wandering around training and not studying can act like a woman so well? Something's up." Nabiki's eyes sparkled at the chance to solve a mystery.

"It's just the curse." Akane told her sister dropping the remains of her broken pen in the bin and getting another.

"That maybe good enough for you, but I want to know the truth." Nabiki slid off the bed and retrieved the letter.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't worry your little head sis, I'm just going to return it to Kuno-baby." Nabiki reassured, not that she would.

"Whatever. Now can I get this done without you hanging over me?" Akane asked giving Nabiki the evil-eye.

"Heh, okay. You win for now, but I'll figure out how you did it sooner or later." Nabiki promised with a smirk and left the room. Nabiki went to her room and closed the door behind her. She sat down at her desk and began to carefully prise open the letter.

"Let's see what Kuno wanted..." Nabiki said quietly to herself and unfolded the letter. "Hmm, blab blab, flowery speech...how many lines of crap...ah! You dropped a CD in our destined meeting. CD? Give me your name, address, telephone number and measurements and it will be mailed back to you." Nabiki pursed her lips. "A CD eh. Does Ranma even own a player I wonder..."

Carefully refolding the letter, Nabiki re-slipped it back into the envelope.

x X x

Ranma climbed down the stairs fuming. She paused at the bottom and sighed. Putting Kuno to the far recesses of her mind she undid the buttons on her jacket, slid it off and folded it over her arm.

She crossed the hall and poked her head around the doorframe to the living-room. Kasumi was sat at the table doing some needlework and half watched the television showing the weather report. Soun as sat opposite Genma playing Go, both had intense looks of concentration of their faces.

_I'm surprised Genma actually knows how to play that_, Ranma thought.

"Is that a bat in the house Tendo!" Genma pointed behind Soun's shoulder.

"Bat?" Soun turned to look and Genma rapidly changed some of the pieces on the board in his favour.

"Ah, sorry Tendo. My mistake." Genma stated when done. Soun turned back and did a double-take at the board.

"That's...odd." Soun scratched his chin.

_I should have known_, Ranma shook her head. She turned and walked down the hall heading to the room Ranma shared with Genma. She slid the door open and flicked the lights on.

Ranma hung her jacket up and then went over to the bags. She pulled out a couple of large paperback books, a couple of newspapers, a ballpoint and a highlighter pen. She then left the room, turning off the lights as she went.

As Ranma was passing the stairs a flash of light caught her.

"What?" she glanced up to see Nabiki with a camera. "You could have asked first Nabiki."

"Hey, I'm a professional. I like to capture the moment in it's natural state." Nabiki smirked and lied. "What you reading?" she noticed the books.

"Just catching up on...modern computing." Ranma told her.

"Oh really! Speaking of modern Ranma." Nabiki moved closer. "Do you have a CD-player or some spare batteries? I'm out of batteries." Nabiki waved her portable player about.

"I'm sorry. I don't own one. Or batteries of that type."

"Right. I'll go see if Akane's got any. Later!" Nabiki turned and went back upstairs with the information she wanted.

Ranma studied the middle Tendo as she left, an unreadable expression on her face. She then turned from the stairs and went to the living-room. She entered and walked over to the table. There, she knelt down across from Kasumi.

"Hello Ranma." Kasumi greeted as Ranma laid her books and pens on the table.

"Hello Kasumi." Ranma nodded. She looked at the teapot. "Is that fresh or should I go get some more?"

"It should still be hot."

"Great." Ranma said reaching for a cup and pouring herself a drink.

"Boy! Why are you still like that?" Genma called over.

"I'm busy. Don't panic, I'll change back before bed." Ranma reassured him and blew on the tea she held before taking a sip.

"Busy doing what?" Genma demanded to know.

"Never you mind. It's not as if your primitive mind would understand." Ranma rolled her eyes and picked up one of the papers and began searching through it.

"That's it boy. Turn back this instant. You show no respect..."

"I show none in any form."

"That's beside the point!"

Ranma sighed and said the only thing that would get Genma to back off.

"If I change back now I won't be able to figure out how to make the loads of money I'm about to." Ranma explained. "But if you insist..." She reached for the teapot.

"Money?" Genma's ears perked.

"Loads of it." Ranma repeated.

"Well why didn't you say so! Keep up the good work son."

"Can you really make loads of money?" Kasumi asked, her curiosity peaked.

"I doubt the markets work vastly differently here, shouldn't be too hard for me." Ranma remarked picking up the highlighter and began marking information that interested her. "The hardest part is catching up on the information and history I need to make informed decisions. Having just this small sample won't help much, but it's a start. Once I have enough for a computer it'll become easier to do the research."

"Can I help?" Kasumi asked. "After you helped clean last night I feel I should pay you back somehow."

Ranma looked up from the paper and over at Kasumi for a moment. "If you wish. Give me a moment." Ranma went back to marking off information. "Okay, here." Ranma handed Kasumi the paper and passed her another two. "Search through these and find any information that matches the ones I've highlighted in the first. I'll do the same with the rest."

x X x

Tatewaki Kuno awoke the next morning drenched in sweat, his bed sheets damp and tangled around him. His head throbbed with each beat of his heart, as if someone was inserting tiny but white-hot needles into his brain.

He groaned and attempted to call for his servant but his throat and mouth were so dry nothing came out but a dull wheeze. Another wave of agony raced from one side of his skull to the other and all he could do was curl up and whimper, waiting for it to pass.

Eventually, after wishing he would die a few times, the waves of pain went back to just the needles.

Summoning any strength he had left, Tatewaki dragged himself to the edge of the bed and fell off. He hit the floor with a groan and lay there.

_When did my sister poison me?_, Tatewaki wondered as he lay there, the room spinning and going in and out of focus. Taking a couple of deep breaths he pushed himself to his knees and slowly crawled towards the door to his room. He managed to open the door after two attempts.

Gripping the doorframe, Tatewaki slowly pulled himself to his feet and leant against it.

"My head...it doesn't feel like my own..." he groaned pressing his palm to his sweat-slicked his forehead. As he did so an image flashed by, for an instant he saw the earth from space. A three clawed metal arm reached for it. _To the earth!_

"What..." Tatewaki blinked the strange...memory away. Seconds later a wave of nausea hit him and he groaned again. "...bathroom..."

He didn't know how he got there, stumbling from wall to wall like a drunk, but the next thing he was truly aware of was dry heaving over the sink. Once the cramping waves faded he went to use the taps. With fumbling fingers that didn't want to cooperate with him, he struggled to turn the cold water tap on.

Tatewaki let the water run drown the drain and placed his hands under the stream. He splashed his face a couple of times and rubbed it with his hands. Then he brought his mouth down and began taking big gulps of cold water. He was slowly beginning to feel stronger, not much but at least the throbbing headache was bearable.

While gripping the sink tightly, he raised his head and stared at his reflection. His eyes looked tired and bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept for days. His hair was damp and listless.

Without warning another image assaulted his brain. He stared up out a broken window at a massive metal pyramid shaped building that towered over the nearby skyscrapers. _I am the messiah!_

"Verily, she has gotten me good..." Tatewaki mumbled as his vision returned again. These hallucinations were very realistic, better than the usual ones whenever Kodachi got lucky and managed to slip something past him. He massaged his temples in an attempt to relieve the pain.

For once in his lifetime, Tatewaki decided to admit defeat. He wasn't going to go into school today.

"I'm sorry fair Akane Tendo, I will not be able to be there today to rescue you from that coward's clutches." Tatewaki stated. The moment he dragged up his obsession for Akane, a lancing bolt of agony hit the centre of his brain making him sway dangerously.

The image he had in his mind of Akane blurred and was superimposed with the woman he had met yesterday in the pool. He could feel something in his head try to replace his obsession with Akane for that of the woman, whose name came to him now. Sylia Stingray.

"Nay! My love for Akane burns bright!" Tatewaki clenched his teeth and warred with his traitorous mind. He slid to his knees, still holding onto the sink and fought with all his reality-ignoring abilities. Both desires seemed to come to a stalemate and the pain grew dangerously.

Then without warning, he and his mind came to an agreement to relieve the pain. Both images separated.

Tatewaki's eyes snapped opened and he smirked an un-Kuno-like smirk. "Yes...I must have them both." he chuckled, the desire to possess them as if they were items of power equally shared.

x X x

"Is this going to be a common occurrence?" Nabiki asked chewing on a piece of toast and watching the Saotomes clashing above the pond, throwing insults as quickly as they did punches and kicks.

"Of course Nabiki." Soun informed her not looking up from the paper. "A master must constantly practice and strive for perfection of his art."

"Shouldn't you be out there then Daddy?" Nabiki muttered as the Saotomes once more launched themselves high above the pond. She had to admit, they were impressive.

"They are good, aren't they." Kasumi said looking up from today's paper she was highlighting for Ranma.

"Humph. They're okay." Akane stated.

"Oooh, someone sounds jealous." Nabiki needled.

"Of that! Ha! I can do that just as well."

Nabiki just grinned.

Soon the Saotomes wound down their morning practice. Amazingly neither one had fell into the pond.

"So, Ranma. Aren't you going to open this challenge letter from Kuno?" Nabiki asked waving the letter she had retrieved. Ranma and his father paused in their breakfast battle and looked over at the middle Tendo.

"You have a challenge letter boy?" Genma asked.

"No!" Ranma snorted.

"It's to his girl-side." Nabiki flicked the letter to Ranma who caught it. Ranma gave Nabiki an annoyed look.

"Boy! On the honour of the Saotome School, you must accept any and all challenges!" Genma ranted.

"Gee thanks, Nabiki." Ranma grumbled ripping the envelope open and pulling out the letter. He began to read it, his face going through a few confused expression's as he tried to translate the flowery speech. Ranma absently picked up his water and took a swig as his eyes passed over the part about the CD. As he remembered everything from his curse form, he sprayed water across the table and did a double take.

A foreboding chill ran down his spine.

"Ranma! you jerk!"

Ranma blinked and looked up from the letter in time to see a soaked Akane throw her glass of water in his face. Ranma shifted form, becoming female, his hair grew rapidly in length and became silky, wavy and gained a violet sheen to it.

Silence reigned as the Tendo girl's took in the new form and Genma scooted away from his cursed son. Ranma for her part fixed Akane with a predatory stare that froze the girl to the spot instantly. A faint smirk played on Ranma's lips as she stared Akane down.

Without warning, what looked like electricity crackled around Ranma and her clothes morphed into the same black attire the Tendo's had first witnessed, however this time it fit the form perfectly.

Nabiki's jaw dropped.

"Oh my..." Kasumi stated in awe at Ranma's current form's beauty.

At hearing the crackle, Soun lowered his paper to see what was happening. He too was rendered speechless at the high-class beauty at the other end of the table.

Ranma's eyes flickered to the side at the movement from the head of the table and her smirk became playful. With a casual move that just oozed sensuality, Ranma reached for a napkin and traced her finger across it in a circular motion, before picking it up and dabbed at her damp face daintily.

Soun stared transfixed as Ranma put the napkin down and reached for a pickle and brought it slowly towards her lips.

"You pervert!" Akane finally snapped and threw a punch. Ranma smoothly stood up and allowed the blow to land in her cleavage. She remained unmoving with her hands on her hips and kept the same slinky smirk on her lips.

"Why, Akane. Do you always put your hands between a women's breasts?" Ranma asked reaching to hold Akane's fist in place where it landed. "Take your time, I've got all day."

"Oh my Akane! That's not very polite." Kasumi told her.

Akane's eyes widened in surprise before her face flushed bright pink. Nabiki's camera went off a few times.

"Nabiki!" Akane shouted yanking her hand free.

"Now that was a kodak moment!" the middle Tendo grinned.

"Give me that!" Akane lunged for the camera that Nabiki moved out of the way.

"Not a chance! You have no idea how much that picture is worth!" Nabiki chuckled and fled the room, Akane hot on her heels.

"Ooooo, that girl. She feels me up and thinks she can get away with it? How dare she." Ranma sighed in mock anger and rushed after them just to see how this turned out.

"Oh my." Kasumi shook her head at her sister's antics. She looked at her father who was still frozen, staring off into space. "Oh dear, not again."

"Have you finished Mr. Saotome?" Kasumi asked turning to the elder Saotome.

"Yes, thanks Kasumi." Genma replied just as he was finishing off the portions that Akane, Nabiki, Ranma and Soun had left. "A splendid meal as usual."

"I'm glad you liked it." Kasumi smiled happily.

"C'mon Tendo, we have that game to finish." Genma stated as he took hold of the back of Soun's keikogi and dragged the unresisting man with him. As they left, Kasumi began gathering the plates and bowls. As she was stacking them something glinted on the table.

"Hmm?" Kasumi wondered what it was as she reached out and picked up a small red stone. "What's this?" Kasumi turned the stone around a few times, examining it from different angles.

_Who's is it?_ Kasumi thought studying it. _Akane doesn't collect jewellery and it's not mine. Ranma hasn't worn any that I could see. So it must be Nabiki's. I'll give it back to her when she gets back._

With that decided Kasumi dropped the stone in her apron pocket and finished the tidying up.

x X x

Nabiki may be a decent runner but her sister was better. Akane was quickly catching up on her. The middle Tendo looked ahead and saw that she had almost made it to Dr. Tofu's clinic. She grinned a sharky grin and quickly took the Polaroid and stuffed it down her top.

"Nabiki give me that!" Akane finally closed the distance and caught Nabiki's arm. Nabiki allowed herself to be pushed back against the wall around the clinic. Akane snatched the camera out of her hands and examined it, looking for the photograph.

"Where is it?" Akane growled getting in her sister's face.

"Guess." Nabiki grinned and lowered her eyes and then looked back at her sister.

"Urk! You...you didn't!"

"Oh yes I did." Nabiki laughed.

"So. You think that'll stop me?" Akane growled yanking her hand back and flexing her fingers.

"Oooh. So you _*really*_ do like sticking your hands between women's breasts." Ranma's silky voice stated from beside them. She leaned in looking on in mock excitement. "Don't let me stop you."

Akane's hair became frazzled and her eye developed an angry tick.

"What's this about Akane and breasts?" Tofu's voice questioned nearby. He sounded as if he was not sure as to if what he had just heard was what he had just heard.

"Urk!" Akane froze.

Ranma lightly poked the girl's head, she didn't move. Nabiki used that distraction to swipe her camera back and twist free of Akane's grasp.

"Thanks doc!" she called out as she rushed off.

"What was that all about?" Tofu wondered while rubbing his chin.

"Oh just a sisterly dispute." Ranma told him.

Tofu turned to her and gave Ranma a strange look. Ranma noticed how the doctor was staring intently at her, particularly her chest area.

"See something you like?" Ranma smiled and ran a hand through her long hair.

"What are you?" Tofu questioned. His eyes had narrowed behind his glasses.

"Huh?" That brought Ranma up short. "What...do you mean?"

"You're not human." Tofu stated.

It was Ranma's turn to scratch her chin in confusion. "What do you mean I'm not human?"

"Your aura is all wrong and what is that inside your body? Who are you?"

"Um..." Ranma wondered if she could trust the doctor. Although Akane did so maybe she could and he seemed to know something wasn't normal about her. "Can I trust you?"

"I'm a doctor. Anything you tell me is confidential." Tofu told Ranma. He noticed she seemed unconvinced. "Shall we all go inside?" he stated tapping Akane causing the girl to unfreeze.

"Dr. Tofu!" Akane blushed. "I was...I mean...I didn't..."

"Don't worry about it Akane." Tofu patted her on the shoulder. "I didn't hear anything. By the way, do you two know each other?"

"He's...staying with us." Akane admitted continuing to blush and hold her head down.

"He?" Tofu asked having to do a double-take on Ranma.

"It's complicated." Ranma smirked.

Tofu led them inside the clinic and to one of the examination rooms.

"Tea?" Tofu offered the pair.

"No thank you." Akane mumbled.

"Just boil the water for me." Ranma stated.

"So, what are you then?" Tofu asked the question as the kettle began to heat.

"Have you heard of Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked leaning against one of the beds and folding her arms. She closed her eyes contemplatively.

"Jusenkyo? Hmm, I've heard that name before. One moment." Tofu moved over to his bookshelf and Ranma raised her eyes curiously. The doctor removed a book and began flicking through the pages.

"Ah, a cursed valley in Bayankala Range of mountains. A water based curse." Tofu looked up over the book. "Is that the Jusenkyo you mean?"

"Yes. That's the one." Ranma nodded. She held her hand out. "May I?"

"Of course." Tofu handed her the book. Ranma studied the pages. There wasn't much there and as she quickly read it, she realised there was nothing written down that she didn't already know.

"Damn." Ranma snapped the book closed and placed it beside her on the bed she leant against. "Nothing about a cure."

"I take it this is your curse?"

"It's one of my cursed forms." Ranma nodded. "Basically if I touch cold water I change into my cursed form. Hot water undoes the effect."

"Can you show me?"

"I can't go to school like this anyway." Ranma nodded.

"Was that other girl you yesterday?" Tofu picked the kettle up and brought it to Ranma who took it and tested the temperature by placing a hand against the kettle's body.

"Yes." Ranma nodded. "Hold on while I get changed."

"If you need priva..." Tofu blinked as Ranma became covered in a weird energy that arced around her changing her clothes into Ranma's usual Chinese style.

"No need." Ranma smirked.

"I've never seen anything like that before!" Tofu stared. That energy had felt extremely strange to him, but it was the same energy that was inside of Ranma that had drew his attention outside.

"This is even weirder ." Ranma stated raising the kettle and pouring it over her head. Ranma changed back to normal and handed the kettle back. "Thanks doc." he began retying his hair.

Tofu walked up to Ranma and gave him the once over. "That odd energy is completely gone. Your aura is normal now."

"Do you know anything that might help me find a cure?" Ranma asked hopefully.

"Not off the top of my head. But I'll see if I can find you anything." Tofu said using the remaining hot water to pour himself a drink. "I have a couple of contacts who deal with exotic cases."

"Thanks anyway doc." Ranma nodded. "Hey Akane we getting to school now?"

"I guess." Akane mumbled.

The pair bade farewell to Tofu and exited the clinic.

"This is all _*your*_ fault! Dr. Tofu probably thinks I'm weird now!" Akane growled once they passed the clinic's gates. "If you hadn't spat water all over me!"

"Blame Kuno." Ranma muttered, refusing to accept the blame. "He's the one that wrote that damned letter and scar...errr...upset me."

"Whatever! Just you stay away from me from now on!" Akane shouted.

"Fine! I will!" Ranma snapped and headed off towards the school. Akane glared at him as he moved off. After a moment she reached into her bag and pulled out the transformation pen, then went to find a secluded place to use it.

x X x

"Stupid loud chick." Ranma grumbled walking along. "What's her problem? She was the one to put her hand between my breasts!"

A passer-by gave Ranma a disturbed look as the boy passed him.

"There he is!"

"Get him!"

"For Akane's love!"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked and looked up to see the hentai horde bearing down upon him. "What the hell?"

x X x

"Hehehe. Go get him boys!" Nabiki cheered from the third floor as she watched the hentai horde charge Ranma. Nabiki chuckled and waited to see where Akane was.

"Wow!" someone said.

"Did you see that?" another exclaimed.

Then silence.

Nabiki stared at the unconscious bodies littering the school yard. Her plan to annoy Ranma had just backfired, as the hentai horde turned out to just be an annoyance to the cursed martial artist. She had known Ranma was good, but he had just demolished the horde, and in less time than her sister ever did.

"Damn." she sighed.

x X x

Akane sat in the school yard by one of the trees as she slowly chewed on her dinner and fumed. First, the pervert had spat water all over her, then Nabiki and Ranma had embarrassed her in front of Dr. Tofu and finally when she had gotten to school...Ranma had gone ahead and beat up her horde! Of course, she had been planning on avoiding them with the disguise pen she got from Ranma, but it was the principle of the whole thing.

"Akane are you listening to us?" Yuka, one of Akane's friends asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry....I was thinking. What were you saying?"

"We were saying how sweet it is for two best friends to want their families joined so they promise to engage their children." Sayuri swooned, "Like something out of a romance novel."

"What kind of books are you reading?" Akane mumbled.

"So spill!" Yuka grinned.

"Spill what?"

"Is he as hot as he appears? Does he have a nice firm body and manly chest?"

Snap went Akane's chopsticks.

"Ooooh! It must be true she's blushing!"

"I didn't feel that pervert's chest!" Akane yelled drawing attention. She shrank as she noticed all nearby eyes turn her way. Her friends snickered.

"So when's the wedding?" Sayuri asked.

"I'm not marrying him!" Akane growled and then had a sudden inspiration of how she could get back at Nabiki. "Anyway, he's engaged to a Tendo and who hasn't been decided. For all I know he might be with Nabiki right now seeing as she and him are nowhere in sight!"

"Ooooo!"

x X x

"Achoo!" Nabiki sneezed and rubbed her nose. "Somebody must be talking about me." she muttered and continued on, heading towards the computer clubroom. They had a photocopier and she was going to create a few copies of the picture she took this morning.

Coming to the computer clubroom, Nabiki slid the door open with a loud band startling the members.

"N...nabiki-san!" one of the boy's stuttered quickly hiding what he was browsing.

"At ease, boys. I'm only after the copier." Nabiki shut the door and moved over to the machine. "You can go back to browsing your hentai."

Nabiki set the machine off copying and relaxed back.

"Wow! She's a good cosplayer! Look's just like her." Aito, a bespectacled boy remarked. "Who is she?"

"Hmm?" Nabiki looked to the side where Aito was holding one of the copies and pointing at Ranma's cursed form. "Cosplayer?"

"Yeah, the art of dressing up as characters from anime, games, films etcetera."

"I know what it is." Nabiki remarked dryly. "What makes you think she's a cosplayer?"

"Oh, that's definitely Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist." Aito remarked.

Nabiki's eyebrow's rose and her curiosity increased. "Show me." she stepped behind the boy who quickly went to the internet and pulled up a page full of pictures.

Nabiki blinked and double checked the photo she had taken against the drawings and pictures on the screen. The hair matched, the face matched, the body matched and the dress was identical.

"Lust eh...I see. Fitting name." Nabiki frowned. _Spring of drowned otaku's model collection? Is that possible that Ranma's curses are all from animes?_

"Aito, can you tell me who this cosplayer is?" Nabiki handed him the earlier photo she had taken of Ranma's older form.

Aito adjusted his glasses and studied the photo. "The only one that comes to mind looking at that is possibly Sylia Stingray from Bubblegum Crisis."

"Aito, you wouldn't happen to have a copy of those two manga's?" Nabiki questioned.

"I have some of them..."

"Excellent! Go get them for me." Nabiki clapped.

"What? Right now..." Aito paused and swallowed at Nabiki's expression. "...err yeah I'll go get them right now!"

Nabiki grinned as the boy raced out the room. She turned back to the screen and printed a copy of one of the pictures off. As she picked the copy out of the printer she felt as if she were being watched.

She whipped her head around and ended up staring out the window.

"Weird, I could have sworn someone was there."

x X x

Ranma slowly lowered herself back down so she could look into the room Nabiki had just vacated. Her long ponytail blew in the breeze as she hung upside-down from the rooftop by her toes and stared at the screen through the glass.

Her eyes remained curious as she studied the pictures of her demon-lady form. She cocked her head upwards. _Very strange_, she thought.

Ranma had planned to try and recover the picture Nabiki had in an attempt to makeup with Akane over what he had done earlier. He had changed into this sneaky form and used it to tail Nabiki and had just been waiting for an opportune moment to swipe it.

Ranma pulled herself back up and back onto the roof. She sat and leant back against the chain-link fence and wondered what this all meant, getting the photograph completely forgotten for the moment.

Ranma sat pondering what she had learned, until her stomach grumbled. She was hungry.

Ranma reached into her shirt and retrieved her bento box. She opened the bento and slowly blinked, twice, at the little mouse with a ribbon tied on it's tail, that lay in her bento box rubbing it's belly contently.

x X x

Tatewaki Kuno popped another set of painkillers into his mouth and washed them down with water. He set the glass back down on the small table beside his chair and went back to reading the book he currently had in his hands. He continued to turn the pages over at about one a second. To the other side of his chair a pile of books from the Kuno family library stood stacked, the ones he finished reading already.

He had three different radio's plugged in and each played a different station and the television played away. Currently playing was one of those game shows where a contestant had to test they're general knowledge.

"What is a Lagrange point?" the quiz show host asked.

"An orbital spot, one of five, where a small object will remain stationary with respect to two large gravitational objects." Tatewaki stated absently continuing to turn pages. When the contestant got the answer wrong, Tatewaki snorted. "Pathetic brainless ape. You can't even use a fifth of the brainpower god gave you. Obviously why I, the Blue Thunder was chosen to receive the gift of knowledge, to rise above you all."

Tatewaki finished his book and stood up. He walked over to the window and stared out, his hands clasped behind his back.

"I shall bring a new order to this chaotic world and a new breed will rise from the ashes of humanity. I will take my rightful place as ruler and at my side will be my two queens." Tatewaki smirked. But, before he could do that, he needed to go beyond these pathetic five analogue senses that slowed down his gathering of information.

Tatewaki glanced down at his desk and picked up the top sheet of paper he had laid out. On it was a detailed sketch he had done of one of the parts he required. It looked like a more complicated version of a headphone socket.

Now he needed a company to produce them. Fortunately, money would be of no concern. God had chosen well who to enlighten.

x X x

Nabiki lay on her bed and studied the manga's before her. Since getting home she had been reading and taking in all that she could learn. Nabiki was growing concerned. The more she read about the character of Lust, the more scared of Ranma she became.

Her mind kept playing Genma Saotome's words from the night he and his son had arrive. "One is an evil devil-woman, don't _*ever*_ upset her."

"Great, Ranma has the possibility of being an evil, moralless almost indestructible monster powered by human souls. Nice." Nabiki shuddered.

A knock on the door surprised her.

"Who is it?" Nabiki asked making sure her voice didn't sound strained.

"It's me Kasumi." Kasumi replied sliding the door open.

"Something up sis?" Nabiki asked hoping it wasn't.

"I found this when clearing the table this morning. I think it must be yours." Kasumi smiled and held her hand out. Nabiki's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the small red stone in Kasumi's hand.

"Kas...Kasumi. You found that?" Nabiki asked picking it up and studying the stone.

"Yes. It was just lying around. You should be more careful with your stuff Nabiki." Kasumi smiled as she turned to leave.

Nabiki felt her jaw muscles clench tightly as she stared at the stone in her palm.

"It can't be...can it?" she turned back to the manga on her bed and stared for a full minute. Nabiki then began pacing her room trying to think. What should she do? She couldn't test the stone to see if it was really real. Could she confront Ranma? More importantly...did she dare?

End Chapter

Ranma One of Six - Chapter 4

Tatewaki Kuno stood perfectly still in the center of his personal dojo within the Kuno family grounds. His eyes were closed and his breathing perfectly smooth and calm as he held a wooden training sword in a basic guard position, the tip pointing towards the throat of an imaginary opponent. Surrounding him in a large, rough circle were six human shaped solid wooden training dummies.

At an unheard signal, Tatewaki burst into motion, striking forward at the nearest dummy. A strike faster than the eye could follow appeared to pass through without touching the target. He didn't pause even for a second, spinning on his heel he lashed out at the next. Moving between the dummies with tremendous speed he never repeated the same attack.

Within seconds he had returned back to the exact position he had started from, bringing his sword back to the very same guarded position. Around him the dummies suddenly fell apart, each one cut in a different position and angle.

Tatewaki relaxed and opened his eyes as the last sounds of wood clattering on the wooden floor echoed around the dojo. He slowly turned his head around to examine his handiwork, his face impassive, but with the sight of each target it changed, becoming a frown of concentration as part of his mind struggled to process what had occurred.

"And to think, this is with just a plain bokken." Tatewaki stated stepping up to and toed the closest lump of former dummy. It was cut as smooth as glass he noticed. In his head, the new thoughts were attempting to analyze how such a thing was possible. Tatewaki snorted at his shocked and disbelieving mind, after all he was Tatewaki Kuno, The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, and soon to be maker of the new world. He had long been capable of such feats.

But still, the new logical part of his mind rebelled at the fact. How? How could a physically unmodified, unenhanced human be capable of doing such things? He knew how much force would need to be applied, he calculated how fast something would have to move, how the wooden sword should have sheared or melted from the forces used on it. It didn't…compute!

"And that, is why my predecessor failed." Tatewaki explained aloud. He quickly pulled up the carefully cataloged memories of the perfect example of the previous enlightened one's failure. "He believed power could only be achieved through physical perfection."

_Hard brown eyes, filled with loathing and a will to win glared at him as the human female in the beaten hardsuit charged at him. He felt a smirk at her foolishness in thinking a human could match the power of a god cross his lips. He pulled his fist back, ready to deliver the final blow. Calculations flew through his head faster than any human was capable of. The forces required to destroy this insect before him worked out to eighteen decimal places and that information transferred along to the hyper-muscles within his arm._

_Their fists collided with a noise like a sonic-boom. The most advanced artificial materials developed met plain armored flesh and bone. His heightened senses detected the minute cracks that instantly appeared and spread along the hardsuited hand. He began to laugh, to gloat over her failure when the impossible occurred. The incredible force he applied was halted. With nowhere else to go, it reverberated back up his own arm, obliterating it in a shower of ceramics, metal fragments and highly pressurized fluids. He screamed in surprise and pain as the feedback scrambled even his thoughts for a moment. He fell back, clutching at the ruined stump of what was once an arm, orange hydraulic fluid leaking between his fingers and stared._

_HOW?!_

"By creating a perfect body and mind, he ignored the power of the human spirit. An oversight that destroyed him. Three times. A flaw I do not share." Tatewaki finished. He walked over to the Kamidana on the dojo wall and gave a short prayer to the spirits of his ancestors. "Perfection is not built. Nay, I Tatewaki Kuno know it is earned through training, perfection is a balance of mind, body and soul." He smirked in a manner that stated he was superior to all. "Two out of three, is still a failure, Mr. Mason."

Tatewaki took a few moments to forcefully silence the voice in his head that wouldn't accept the facts. He ignored the arguments against the existence of such a power, ignored the graphs and charts that showed it was impossible for a human to generate the energy required for his feats. Tatewaki knew better, he could do anything he put his mind to. Shortly, it gave up and retreated away, grumbling in defeat like a greasy and annoying executive that created presentations filled with inane sound effects and had had his ideas laughed out of the boardroom.

Tatewaki left the dojo and walked outside to watch the slowly rising sun. A faint smirk stayed on his face the entire time as he enjoyed the morning, thoughts of the future running through his head. Oh how he would fix the world with this power. It would be perfect, with himself ascending to his true position, with his queens by his side.

Akane so pure and tidy, but possessing strength and ferocity, so very human. Sylia, the only other as enlightened as himself. He would have them both.

For now, Akane's mind was currently limited by her human brain and would be incapable of comprehending what he was going to achieve, but once he had gathered the required technology he would grant her enlightenment and allow her to join the future race. Until that time, there was only one other like himself. Sylia. He knew she was out there, somewhere in this world. Their fated encounter at the school proved that.

Reaching out with his mind he called out for her. He didn't expect a reply, she was too shrewd to let him know she had heard him, but as long as she knew he was waiting for her, that was enough for now.

x-X-x

"Sylia. Sylia…Stringray."

Ranma bolted awake, sitting upright in a sudden cold sweat. He glanced around the room for a moment, confused by the unfamiliar surroundings, before realizing he was still at the Tendo's. Taking a deep breath he sighed, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. That voice, he didn't recognize it, but it sent a shiver down his spine as if he were surrounded by ca…those things.

"I'm waiting for you." the voice whispered, fading away to nothing.

"Wha?" Ranma whipped around, his mind telling him he was in danger. The voice had sounded as if it were right beside him. He examined the room once again, seeking the source of the voice with all his senses. He saw nothing unusual. He heard nothing unusual.

'What the heck is going on?' Ranma stared at the far wall, but didn't actually see it. 'A dream?'

'No, it didn't feel like a dream.' he decided, frowning deeply. 'A ghost? Nah!'

'It's gotta be the curse…' Ranma decided. He turned to study his sleeping father, who snored away. 'Stupid curse. Waking me before Pops.'

As much as he wanted to, Ranma knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep now; and something else was tugging at his mind. Sylia Stringray…he knew that name. Intimately. It belonged to the first cursed form he had been given, the one whose memories the had full access to whenever he switched, the smart one, the one that was worried about what those memories meant.

Ranma pushed the thin cover off himself and climbed to his feet. He walked over to the small set of drawers and opened the top one that he had placed the evidence in. Reaching inside he pulled out the watch that had appeared on his arm. It looked innocent enough, like any other expensive watch, but carefully etched on the back were the words 'To my Sis'. It was Sylia's watch. But that should be impossible if the cursed forms were not actually real people.

And now he was hearing a voice that induced a fear not his own. Ranma pushed the fear away, he could handle anything if it involved a fight. But the deep concern, that he knew wasn't his own persisted. He needed to think, or at least, he needed to think as Sylia. He put the watch on his wrist, mentally telling himself off for leaving it somewhere his father could easily find it. He would have to hide it later.

Ranma left the spare room and walked down towards the furo. He entered the small changing room, scratching the back of his head deep in thought. He turned on both taps at the small sink and quickly shifted through his cursed forms and back until reaching the desired one.

Ranma turned the taps off and stared into the small mirror above the sink. Sylia's brown eyes stared back, appearing almost haunted.

"It's impossible…" She whispered, chilled by the recent occurrence. He had called out to her once again. But, he was dead, destroyed by her own hands. After the last time…she had made sure to recover anything that remained from the AD police before it could be…misplaced, and destroyed it herself.

'As impossible as my form, personality and memories being part of a curse of a sixteen year old boy? As in magic?' her mind stated rebelliously. 'As myself being a fictional character? As items that *I* own appearing from nowhere?'

She shook her head and when she looked back in the mirror her eyes had hardened, becoming cold with a hint of anger.

"If…somehow he's here…then this world is in peril." Ranma stated quietly. "And right now, I have neither the resources nor the contacts to fight him. Hell, I doubt even the government have the technology to stop him."

'On the plus side, I doubt he has either.' she added quietly. 'That gives me time…but if he's letting me know he's here, then he must have already set in motion whatever plan he has cooked up. Not even he is arrogant enough to provoke me without stacking the board in his favor.'

She sighed before running her fingers through her hair. She stopped to study herself in the mirror once more, analyzing her features, seeking something that was proof she wasn't the original Sylia. She found nothing, her features were exactly as her mind remembered. She was real. This was real, no matter how much they wanted it not to be.

'I can no longer just sit passively by and let Ranma live his own life. Not if what I fear is happening is actually happening. I'll need resources, contacts, money most of all.' Ranma sighed again. 'I have to start this from less than my own beginnings all those years ago, and worse, without help and with only this world's basic technology.'

She stood up straight and rested her elbow in her palm and lightly tapped her bottom lip with her thumb as she thought.

'I'll need to set up an identity, all the way back to birth certificates. Possibly for the entire set of forms as well. Then I'll need a steady source of income before I can even think of getting away from Genma.'

Ranma paused in her thoughts as the door opened and Kasumi stepped into the small room. The eldest Tendo daughter blinked in surprise at seeing Ranma stood in the middle of the room looking thoughtful.

"Good morning Ranma." Kasumi greeted after a slight pause. She shuffled the carefully folded fresh set of clothes she carried in her arms so they wouldn't slip as she gave a polite little bow.

"Good morning Kasumi." Ranma replied. "Have you just woken up?" she asked, seeing as Kasumi was still in her nightgown.

"Oh yes." Kasumi walked by Ranma and placed the bundle of clothes she carried on a shelf ready for after her morning bath.

"Do you always get up so early?"

"Of course Ranma. I must take care of the breakfast before everyone else gets up." Kasumi smiled.

"I take it, it's your turn today."

"Excuse me?" Kasumi blinked for a moment, as if she wasn't sure what Ranma was saying.

"You and your sisters take turns, right?"

"Oh no. I make the breakfast every morning." Kasumi replied.

"Oh." Ranma was surprised by Kasumi's admission.

"Is something wrong?" Kasumi asked with concern written on her face.

"I…just thought you three would, share the household duties."

"Well…Nabiki does look after our money." Kasumi pondered what Ranma was getting at. Ranma frowned as that sounded almost like an excuse to her.

"And Akane? Does she help you?"

"Um, well, Akane doesn't do very well in the kitchen." Kasumi replied hesitatingly.

"Okay, so, Nabiki looks after the money. But neither one helps you in the kitchen? They must help with the cleaning right?"

"Oh my no."

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, her expression was one of disbelief. "Kasumi…you're telling me neither one of your sisters helps you out? At *all*? You look after the entire household by yourself?"

"Of course. It's my duty to look after my family, ever since Mother…" she trailed off sadly.

Ranma studied Kasumi with a frown on her face, before she stepped closer and took hold of the other girl's hands. She squeezed them gently as she looked the currently younger girl in the eye.

"Kasumi, I understand completely about having a duty to support your family. I had to do the same thing when my father…died, but there's looking after your family and then there's being taken advantage of."

"But…" Kasumi was puzzled for a moment before she remembered when Ranma was like this she had extra memories as well.

"What about your father? Doesn't he say anything about this?" Ranma continued.

"No." Kasumi hesitantly admitted, as if she were afraid she was going to get into trouble.

"I see. He must spend most of his time teaching in the dojo then to support you girls." Ranma said carefully, suspecting by the way Kasumi looked away that wasn't true. Ranma's eyes hardened. "He doesn't, does he?"

"…I…" Kasumi pulled away from the older woman and stood nervously with her fist covering her mouth. She felt like she was six again and getting told off for breaking her mother's favorite ornament, with the way Ranma's eyes watched her with anger and compassion.

"What, does he do?" Ranma probed.

"Daddy, he…he's still grieving over Mother."

"How long?"

"I…"

"How long Kasumi?" Ranma asked again, this time gently.

"Ten years." the eldest Tendo daughter admitted quietly.

"Ten years." Ranma repeated. She stepped back and leaned against the wall. "You've looked after everything for ten years?"

Kasumi nodded faintly as an answer.

'Ten years!' Ranma thought in disbelief. 'She's…this is…I don't…Dammit! I'm somehow in a world not my own. My current Father is a moron. Mason could be out there somewhere and the family I'm staying with has serious problems. How do I sort this mess out?'

"Ranma?" Kasumi broke the silence. She looked at Ranma with concern.

"Kasumi, this has to stop. Now." Ranma stated firmly as she pushed herself away from the wall. "You shouldn't be doing *everything* in this household!"

"But my sisters wouldn't know how-"

"Of course they don't know how to look after themselves, because you took it all on yourself." Ranma paused a moment before she started to explain. "Look, Kasumi. I'm not saying you should just drop everything and not look after them anymore. You need to let them know they have to help *you* out. No one person can do everything by themselves. You lot aren't acting like a family at all. A family helps each other out."

Ranma let out a calming breath after her rant.

"I…maybe you're, right." Kasumi looked at the floor.

"I know I'm right. And things change from today. I'll help you with the breakfast today."

"Oh no! I can't let you do that! You're a guest." Kasumi looked scandalized by what Ranma was saying.

"I've already helped you out once already." Ranma faintly smiled. "Now you go take your bath while I get started."

"But!"

"No buts. Shoo." Ranma shooed Kasumi towards the furo, pushing gently against the girl's back.

"Maybe we should both bathe, then we can start together. I feel bad enough taking advantage of your kindness, without not being there while you work." Kasumi explained.

"Kasumi, one splash of hot water and I'm male Ranma again remember."

"Oh…oh my!" Kasumi blushed faintly at the thought. "Still…you wouldn't have to get in the furo. I…could help wash your back…or…"

'Trying to stall me.' Ranma smiled. "That's not really a good idea."

"Why?" Kasumi turned around to look at Ranma.

"We remember everything that happens to each other remember." Ranma pointed out. "It would be weird for both of you and myself."

"Oh…what about your own bath?"

"I'll take mine when you're finished." Ranma told her. "You can take over the breakfast preparations then, okay. Now go on."

Without giving Kasumi time to work up another excuse, Ranma turned and exited the small changing room. She headed back into the main house and went to the kitchen. Inside she quickly and efficiently went about looking in each of the drawers and cupboards, collecting up ingredients and cataloging where everything was for later use. It didn't take long to have the beginnings of a breakfast going.

Soon Ranma heard footsteps approaching and Kasumi entered the kitchen. Kasumi took in the sight of how far Ranma had gotten before speaking.

"The furo is free now. I'll take over Ranma."

"Right." Ranma replied switching places with the Tendo girl. Kasumi quickly took over the cooking.

'You rushed to get out here Kasumi.' Ranma shook her head slightly at the sight of Kasumi's damp hair and not quite straight clothes. She headed back to the spare room, and quietly so as to not wake Genma, collected her suit, minus jacket. She had a very busy day ahead of herself if she was going to get everything put into motion. No longer could she just rely on playing the market for income, she needed a quick way to make the money she required. Fortunately she had plenty of ideas on how she could achieve this. There were plenty of opportunities to introduce some of the simpler technology she knew how to make.

Ranma went back to the furo, got washed with the cold water and then went back to the kitchen to check up on Kasumi, who by this time had gotten everything close to being ready. Kasumi politely but firmly declined anymore help and Ranma headed into the living-room where she took a seat by the table. No one else was up yet so she grabbed the morning paper and began scanning through it for any signs of the sort of trouble she was expecting.

While she was looking through the news, Soun poked his head into the room.

"Ah, Ranma my…boy?" Soun wondered with a puzzled expression on his face which gender pronoun he should use. "You're up bright and early. Good to see."

"Good morning Mr. Tendo." Ranma politely but coolly responded. 'Lazy bum. Not supporting your own family.' she thought.

"I see you're taking an interest in the local news."

"It's always best to keep informed."

"Good. Good." Soun responded before heading off. Ranma guessed he was going towards the furo by the fact he carried a small plastic tub filled with items used for shaving and a small white towel draped over his shoulder.

Soon she heard a muffled "Take this lazy boy-huh?" from the direction of the spare room.

"Looks like the moron is awake." She carefully raised the paper so she was hidden behind it. As she guessed Genma made a beeline for the living-room.

"Tendo ol' buddy. Have you seen my ungrateful son?" Genma's voice called out as Ranma's father looked around the room and took for granted that it must be Soun behind the paper. Ranma kept quiet and shook her head, rustling the paper, until Genma left mumbling.

While she was finishing off reading the paper she heard one of the bowls rattle as if moved. Ranma lowered the paper curiously and had to blink back her surprise at the extremely bold mouse that was eating from one of the bowl across from her. She recognized the mouse from the previous day as it still had the little ribbon tied around her tail.

The mouse paused in mid-bite as she felt Ranma's eyes on her. She turned towards the cursed martial artist. They stared at each other for a moment in total silence. Then, Ranma calmly folded and placed the paper to one side before reaching over to Genma's plates and picking off a piece of tamagoyaki. She held it out to the mouse, who quickly swiped it and swallowed it whole, much to Ranma's surprise.

"Only his okay." Ranma stated with a smirk as the mouse strangely seemed to understand her. With a cheeky squeak the mouse climbed into Genma's bowl of rice and began munching away. Ranma shook her head in resigned disbelief. This wasn't quite the craziest thing she had witnessed since Jusenkyo, but it certainly ranked up there.

'A mouse that seems to understand Japanese!'

Footsteps and a yawn drew Ranma's attention away from the mouse. It was a recently awoken Nabiki. She looked tired as though she hadn't had much sleep that night. The middle Tendo absently scratched at her frazzled hair as she entered the living-room.

"Mornin' Kasumi." Nabiki mumbled, half asleep and not looking at Ranma.

"Good morning Nabiki." Ranma replied. She turned her head to face the girl and studied her carefully. 'I wonder if they realize what they've been doing to Kasumi?'

Nabiki blinked sleep blurred eyes and squinted at Ranma for a few seconds, as if she were trying to place the woman sitting at the table. Then it clicked into place.

"Oh, Ranma…" Nabiki mumbled before she went rigid in surprise. "Ranma!"

Ranma instantly noticed Nabiki's body language went from sleepy to wide awake and alert. In fact she suddenly had the nervous tremblings of someone who had found themselves trapped in a room with a hungry lion.

"Yes? Is something…wrong Nabiki?" Ranma asked as she carefully schooled her features at Nabiki's rapid change in demeanor. Nabiki began to slowly inch back towards the door she had come in through.

"Nothing." Nabiki said while trying her hardest not to flinch as she saw Ranma set her face into a passive visage and fixed highly intelligent and cold eyes on her. "Wrong room actually. I'm half asleep."

"Oh. Can I help you with anything?" Ranma probed.

"No. I'm fine." Nabiki had backed away enough she was standing in the doorway. "Excuse me. I…need to take a bath."

"If there's anything bothering you that I can help with, feel free to talk to me." Ranma hinted.

"I'll remember…that." Nabiki replied managing to turn away but still keep her eyes on Ranma. She quickly stepped into the hall and almost ran into Akane in her haste to vacate the living-room.

"Nabiki!" Akane grumbled as she dodged the other girl. "What's up with her?" she asked towards Ranma as she entered the living-room.

"I don't know." Ranma replied with a narrowing of her eyes. 'She knows something about the curses. I'm certain of it. But why would that make her afraid of me?'

"Why are you like that?" Akane asked as she sat down at the table and eyed Ranma suspiciously.

"I think better this way. It helps with planning for my future."

"I'm not marrying you." Akane stated quickly.

Ranma sent an amused smile towards the girl and shook her head. "Well, it's not exactly legal with me being physically female. Correct? I doubt our parents can force a marriage if I turn up female."

Akane looked thoughtful for a moment before her expression became the look of someone who had just realized they had missed something obvious.

"That would…work." Akane stared at Ranma in a new light. "You'd do that?"

"Without hesitation. I can't ruin your lives as mine is." Ranma stated. 'And if I'm right, I'd be putting you all in terrible danger.'

Their conversation was cut short as the rest of the Tendo's filed into the room and took their places at the table. Nabiki made sure she was out of direct line of sight from Ranma, which the cursed boy noticed and filed away. Soon they began eating, aside from Soun who chose to read his morning paper first.

Genma entered the room muttering about his ungrateful son before spotting Ranma, still in his cursed form, and worse, dressed like some secretary or something.

"Boy! Why are you dressed like that?" Genma looked less than impressed as he stared across at Ranma.

"This…again." Ranma sighed while rubbing at her temples. "I've got things to get done today."

"What things?"

"Important things." Ranma replied in a way that said the conversation was over. She took a sip from her drink, ignoring Genma.

'She's up to something.' Nabiki chewed on her breakfast thoughtfully and kept a wary watch on the cursed boy out the corner of her eyes.

"What about school?" Genma questioned.

"It can wait. This is important."

"Dammit boy! Change back now and forget whatever nonsense is running through your head." Genma punctuated his words with a fist against the table top, rattling the cutlery. "I've had to pay good money for your school books."

"Since when do you care so much about my education? Hmm?" Ranma asked. "You never cared when you dragged us off to China."

"That was different."

"Hardly." Ranma resisted snorting at Genma's words.

"As your father I demand you get changed and go to school!"

"Really?" Ranma leaned her elbows on the table and held her hands together as she stared Genma in the eye. "We both know, I have no need for schooling. I could pass any exam this backwards place could throw at me."

Father and cursed son glared at each other as Ranma continued speaking.

"This insistence for school wouldn't have anything to do with getting two of us four married would it. Nor would it be about your concern whether I have the relevant paper qualifications to teach classes in the dojo so you can retire in peace. And I'm sure it has *nothing* to do with inheritance tax at all."

Ranma kept her face neutral as she spoke. She didn't know whether her reasoning was anywhere near correct. For all she knew Genma and Soun could just want to have their families joined because they were good friends. But she had succeeded in sowing seeds of doubt in the Tendo girls as they turned to look at Genma and then their own father. Each one looked thoughtful as if her words had suddenly made everything clear.

Ranma yelped in surprise as Genma reached out in a blink of an eye and grabbed her by the front of her blouse. Her hands automatically went to his wrists as he half dragged her across the table.

"Enough is enough boy!" Genma yelled as he threw Ranma over his shoulder. She screamed as she flew in a powerful arc that ended with her slamming into the Tendo's pond with a loud splash. For a brief moment she panicked as she could not make out which way was up or down.

Righting herself she burst to the surface and spat out the mouthful of pond water she had taken in by surprise. Ranma glared daggers at Genma as she swam to the edge and climbed out onto her hands and knees and shivered from her waterlogged clothes. Genma's shadow fell over her and she glared up at him.

"Stop this foolishness and get changed for school." Genma stated smugly. "Or do I have to throw you in the pond again?"

Ranma grit her teeth in frustration, knowing too well she had no chance at actually beating Genma in a fair fight. She knew many martial arts herself but she would be the first to admit that Genma had her outclassed, both in skill and physical ability.

"You! You don't know what you're doing!" Ranma snarled climbing to her feet and covering her chest with her arms to preserve what modesty and dignity she had left.

"Quit your whining boy, you sound like a girl!"

"You…you…jackass!" Ranma glared back and had to resist the urge to attack Genma. She stormed past him, dripping pond water all the way back to the house.

"She looks pissed." Nabiki remarked a little nervously.

"Poor Ranma." Kasumi stated with a little frown.

"Now get yourself changed back." Genma demanded as he followed Ranma closely back into the house.

"Like hell! Genma!" Ranma spat his name. "Kasumi? Could I borrow something to wear? We're quite close in size."

"Of course Ranma." Kasumi climbed to her feet to help.

"What?!" Genma spluttered. "I said stop this nonsense!"

"And I'm ignoring you, fool."

"That's it! turn back this instant!" Genma shouted as he grabbing the nearby pot of tea. He threw the contents over Ranma who yelped at the surprisingly hot liquid.

"Hot! Hot!" Ranma hopped around fanning himself with his hands. The heat quickly became bearable, which left a damp and slightly pinkened Ranma wearing a soaked woman's business suit. He quickly came to realize how he must look, and flushed bright red in embarrassment. His embarrassment faded though in comparison to the leftover anger he still felt towards his father.

"That's it old man!" Ranma bellowed launching a fist towards Genma's face.

"Ungrateful boy! I've rescued from her evil ways!" Genma deflected the attack and leapt away landing outside ready for further attacks. Ranma didn't disappoint him, the cross-dressed teen shot after him hurling a rapid series of blows.

"You. Don't. Know. Nothing!" Ranma snarled and launched a stockinged foot straight up towards Genma's head. Or he tried. His leg got caught halfway up on the skirt, which held for a moment before the force behind the kick tore the seem.

"Ha!" Genma laughed grabbing Ranma's outstretched leg that had been slowed by the unforeseen snag. "Hiya!" Ranma was hurled over his father's shoulder and straight into the pond for the second time that morning.

"Oh dear, they're fight again." Kasumi sighed. "I wonder if Ranma still wants to borrow some clothes?" she pondered quietly to herself.

"Ah, it's good to see such dedication to the art." Soun stated from behind his paper, not actually paying attention.

Outside, Genma approached the pond and leaned closer. "Now just listen to your father for once boy." Genma said. He frowned at the crackling red energy that suddenly lit up under the surface. With a sudden sinking feeling, he realized what that signified.

"Yikes!" Genma flipped backwards away from the pond as five black claws burst from the ground near his feet and expanded up, trying to spear his head.

Nabiki sprayed a mouthful of her coffee as she also realized which form Ranma was in.

"Are you okay Nabiki?" Akane asked her sister who was coughing.

Genma landed a good distance away from the pond and began sweating in concern as he watched the claws slowly retract back under the ground. Then, Ranma pushed her head out of the water and leaned sensually against the rocks at the edge. The smile on her face was anything but friendly.

"Ooooh, now you've done it Pops." she smirked, holding one hand before her face, claws extended. She ran her tongue along one finger-spear before twisting her smile into something filled with malice. She smoothly climbed out the pond, revealing that the ruined business suit had changed into the black dress this form preferred.

"Ah…now boy, let's talk about this…" Genma backed away, and quickly began counting his escape routes as Ranma slinked closer. She held both hands palms facing him and let her claws drag through the grass as she approached.

"You know Pops, you've *really* annoyed me. I think I want a panda fur coat, as an apology. What do you think?" Ranma asked, matching each of Genma's back-steps, keeping the distance between them constant.

Ranma burst forward into a full on run, bent forward at the waist and arms trailing behind her. Her claws left small trails of torn earth behind her as she raced towards Genma like a bullet.

Genma's eyes went wide in fear as Ranma lashed out with her claws, left first, then right. Genma frantically dodged and ducked the swipes. He fell back, trying to avoid the deadly spear-like claws. The whisk-like noise of the claws rushing through the air, sounded all too close to Genma's ears for his liking.

Genma flipped away and landed crouched upon one of the large concrete garden ornaments. His cursed son launched forward after him, even the look of sheer psychoticness on her face couldn't hide her beauty. Ranma lashed out with her claws again, leaning deeply forward with one of her knees almost to the ground, and her claw-like fingers splayed. Genma had leapt away mere seconds before, somersaulting over her head. He landed behind her and kicked out, hoping to catch her unaware.

Ranma had carefully followed Genma's somersault with her eyes as he passed over her head and was already turning when he kicked out at her. She intertwined her extended fingers, forming a shield from them. She grunted at the impact on her delicate arms and was forced back. She dug her heels into the ground to halt her backwards slide. Her physical strength was nowhere near her normal form, but she didn't need it with her claws and durability. Ranma grinned evilly.

Genma saw her smirk from between the gaps in her fingers seconds before she whipped her arms apart, trying to slice him like a shelled boiled egg in an egg slicer. Through sheer luck and his experience at avoiding sharp objects, Genma pushed away with his foot and rolled back over. He came to a halt in a crouch gulping air from the close encounter. The front of keikogi was in cut in four horizontal slices.

'She's really trying to kill me!' Genma realized. The devil-woman that possessed his son had frightened him many a time, but she had never been truly intent on killing him before. This time, he could actually feel killing intent rolling off her in waves.

"Phooey, I missed." Ranma stated with a flick of her hair before placing her hands on her hips, her fingers returning to normal. Behind her the concrete ornament decided to fall apart with a thud.

"I hope Ranma doesn't hurt Mr. Saotome too much." Kasumi stated, watching the fight from the living-room.

"This is…bad." Nabiki whispered to herself.

"Hmm, I wonder if Ranma can teach me that?" Akane wondered to herself. She noticed Nabiki had jumped to her feet and was in the middle of hurrying out the room. "Where are you going, Nabiki?"

"Nabiki?" Akane asked again when she got no reply. "Hmph! Really!" she sniffed and turned her head back to the match outside.

"Release my son now, devil-woman!" Genma demanded as he pointed an accusing finger at Ranma.

"Oh ho ho." Ranma laughed humorlessly. "You're really slow Pops. There's only one form that makes me another person, and this ain't the one."

"No demon! You're not Ranma. No matter how angry he gets, he would never aim to kill unless the situation showed no other way. You're a demon!"

"Really…" Ranma shrugged unconcerned. "I am Ranma. But, I have to admit this form is sooo much more…liberating. I don't have to worry about all that boring honor crap you spout off about but don't follow. Life's to be lived and have fun, not to be worrying about how those around you care. And you know, my life will be much more fun with you out of the way. So sorry Pops." Ranma didn't sound sorry at all as she gave Genma another devious smirk.

"I'm warning you now," Genma adjusted his stance, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he went serious. "I won't hold back. If I have to beat you senseless to get my son back, I will."

"Oh really?" Ranma leaned her head back cockily and took a small step forward, keeping her hands still on her hips. "I've been able to beat you in sparing since I was fourteen." Another step closer. "What makes you think you can beat me like this?" Ranma took another step forward.

"I'll show you why you're still a student." Genma stated not giving ground.

"Heh." Ranma raised her hands to shoulder level and slowly wiggled her fingers towards Genma. "Prove it."

Ranma's devious smile widened in amusement as Genma tensed his legs.

"Don't move!" Genma bellowed out shooting forward with incredible speed.

'What?!' Ranma's eyes widened in shock as a powerful wave of ki washed over her freezing her body still. Genma was in front of her in a flash and slammed both his arms into her own, spreading them wide before sending a powerful kick up into her undefended stomach. She was lifted off the ground as the air was forced from her lungs. Genma's foot continued to lift her higher, sliding up past her chest and catching her finally under the jaw.

Ranma's head snapped back as she was sent flying away from the powerful blow. She hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop. She didn't move for a moment, too stunned and in too much pain. With a painful cough, she turned her head to the side to see Genma was now standing staring down at her.

"I've never wanted to use such dangerous techniques against you, but your devil-woman powers leave me no choice." Genma said.

"Mr. Saotome!" Kasumi came rushing across to the fallen Ranma. "That's enough!" she checked Ranma for injuries.

"I've done what I had to Kasumi. The boy will thank me for it once we change him back."

"This is too-"

"Hahaha." Ranma interrupted them by pushing herself off the ground. "Nice attack Pops. Took me by surprise." she climbed to her feet and rubbed her jaw. "You actually broke a few ribs and my jaw. And to think, you held back…I'm impressed."

"Ranma?" Kasumi blinked as Ranma seemed unharmed.

"Let's try this again." Ranma wiped the thin trickle of blood off her chin. She looked between the confused expressions of Kasumi and Genma. "What? Did you think I'm fragile?"

Without warning, Genma dashed forward once again, charging towards Ranma, who just reached out to grab Kasumi. The cursed boy quickly pulled Kasumi between her and Genma, using the girl as a shield.

"Sorry about this Kasumi." Ranma grinned as Genma canceled his attack in surprise. He had only a second to realize he had left himself open as Ranma's fingers on her free hand lashed out at him. Genma jumped away as the ground he had been stood on got ripped up by the spinning claws. He hissed at the stinging cut in his right forearm as he landed lightly at a good distance from Ranma. He quickly checked the cut. It wasn't deep, little more than a surface scratch, but now he had to change his tactics as the devil-woman was cowardly enough to use a human shield.

"What's wrong Pops?" Ranma called out. "I thought you were go-"

"Ranma! Catch!" Nabiki's shout surprised everyone as she ran over and threw something at Ranma. Ranma reacted without thinking, lashing out with her claws and slicing the large kettle that had been thrown at her.

"Clever girl." Ranma stated before the hot water landed all over her, turning her back to normal.

Ranma stood stock-still, still in that damned dress and let the memories of what he had just been doing run around his head. He had really been ready to kill his father…he suddenly felt cold and utterly repulsed by himself and not because of how he was dressed, though that was still apart of it.

"I'm really sorry Kasumi." Ranma mumbled releasing the eldest Tendo daughter. He looked over at his father. Their eyes met for a moment, before Ranma hung his head. "I'm…going to get changed." Ranma muttered as he turned to leave.

Ranma lifted his head as he was passing Nabiki, wanting to thank her for stopping him from doing something he would have regretted. The words died in his throat at her hard eyes and folded arms, and instead he just shuffled back inside. He could feel everyone's gazes on his back the entire way.

Nabiki glared at Ranma's retreating back. He was a definite dangerous to have around. The curses changed him, and when he became a homunculus he was downright deadly. She had to get rid of them somehow. Maybe now everyone had seen how dangerous he was it would be easy to get rid of the Saotomes.

"I hope Ranma's okay." Kasumi stated as she stepped up beside Nabiki.

'Maybe not.' Nabiki sighed to herself at Kasumi's obliviousness.

"Well done Nabiki." Genma walked over and laughed as he congratulated her with a pat on the shoulder.

"You owe me, big time, Mr. Saotome." Nabiki stated icily and removed his hand from her shoulder. She sniffed before walking away leaving Genma confused at what he had done.

"Hmm? Wonder what's up with her." Genma scratched his bandanna covered head. He quickly forgot about it as things were back to normal for now, so everything was good. "Oh, well. Hope there's some breakfast left."

"Oh, there should be plenty left." Kasumi smiled as they both sat back down at the table. Akane had disappeared sometime, since she was no longer sat at the table. Genma rubbed his hands together, ready to enjoy all the leftovers.

"Hmm?" he paused at the sight of empty bowls and plates. "That's odd…"

"Ahh, finished your morning spar, old friend?" Soun finally finished reading his paper and folded it up. He reached for his chopsticks and blinked as he noticed his food was gone. One of his eyes twitched in annoyance as he instantly suspected his old friend of stealing his breakfast. "Saaaaaaotomeeeeee! You fiend!"

"Wha?" Genma flinched away as Soun launched into a full-blown demon-head attack. "Aiyee!"

"Oh my. I wonder where it all went to?" Kasumi pondered the missing food as her father chased Genma outside, shooting arrows from a bow he had suddenly managed to find. With all the noise Soun and Genma were making no one heard the little contented burp of a well fed mouse as it lay rubbing its bloated belly under the table.

x-X-x

Ranma shuffled all the way back to the spare room deep in thought over his actions while in his cursed form. All plans for the day had been completely forgotten with what he had almost done. He was disgusted at himself, far more than he had been even right after Jusenkyo and finding out he was now cursed to change into a girl.

'What the heck am I going to do?' Ranma thought as he slid the door open. 'I can't control myself when I'm like that.'

He held his hands up and stared at them for a while, memories of what had happened back in China when he had first became her in that village filled his head once again. Guilty memories he had managed to forget until now. With a deep sigh he clenched his hands into fists, before leaning back against the door and sliding down it until he sat on the floor. He unclenched his fists and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Dammit. I need to find a cure." Ranma stated. He stared down at himself and snorted in disgust. "And I need a way to stop making these damn dresses!"

Ranma rolled the hem of the dress up until it was over his knees and then pulled off the high heeled boots. He tossed them to the side, uncaring how they landed, then he stood back up and struggled out the dress. He scrunched it up in anger, anger at the curse and himself, and then tossed the offending object across the room.

Ranma crossed the spare room to the drawers he shared with his Pops while they were staying at the Tendo's and rummaged around for a fresh pair of boxer shorts. He quickly replaced the uncomfortable panties with them and then went seeking another pair of pants.

"Ranma?" Akane's voice called through the door after a quick knock on it. "Are you in there?"

"Sec, Akane." Ranma quickly pulled on his pants and tightened the drawstring as he walked back over to the door. He opened the door and placed his free hand against the frame. "What's wrong?" Ranma asked.

"Are you…" Akane trailed off at seeing Ranma's tight and defined torso. "Put some clothes on!" she glanced away, trying to hide her sudden blush. Her eyes spotted that Ranma's hand, that he was resting against the frame, was holding something. On closer inspection she realized what it was.

"What are you doing with those you pervert?" Akane pointed at the fancy lace panties suspiciously.

"Huh?" Ranma glanced at his hand. "These?" he asked dangling the underwear before Akane's face "They're mine." he realized that must have sounded bad by the way Akane flinched away, wide-eyed and one hand warding him away. "I mean, they're my demon-woman form's." Ranma coughed and hid them behind his back, and then changed the subject "Anyhow, what did you want?"

"What you said at breakfast, did you mean it or was it just that *you* talking?" Akane asked as she watched Ranma's face closely for any signs of lying.

"Yeah. I hadn't thought about that until then, but yeah. I'd do it." Ranma nodded. "Hopefully won't come to that, I need to leave and find a cure."

"Hmm? I think I believe you." Akane stated after a moment of thought. "Okay, you better hurry up."

"Huh? Why?" Ranma scratched the back of his head in confusion. 'Have to tie my hair back up.' he realized.

"We need to get to school."

x-X-x

Nabiki hurried towards Furinkan. She had been worried ever since she had discovered what at least one of Ranma's forms were, but after the display this morning she was now scared for her families safety. The fact Ranma seemed to develop the morals, or lack of morals of Lust was frightening. It seemed that unprovoked, Ranma was quite content to just have fun, but once mad, he'd just kill what was upsetting him.

'I've got to get Daddy to realize this somehow.' she thought. 'Good luck with that.' she added sourly, doubting anything less than Ranma attacking her or her sisters would convince him; and she had no intention of getting any of them attacked by that sometimes psychopath.

The sight that greeted Nabiki as she stepped through the gates of Furinkan was not completely unusual, but it usually occurred after her little sister had arrived. The hentai horde had been beaten already, with many of them limping off or giving glares towards one person.

"Huh? Kuno?" Nabiki stared in surprise, not at seeing him, but at the fact he was dressed in his uniform during a fight. He stood calmly in the center of the yard, bokken held lightly across his shoulder. He gave a contemptuous glare at the remaining boys. Nabiki frowned. Something new was happening.

"Ahh, you…you broke my arm!" Nabiki heard one of the larger boys from the hockey team say as he held his arm in pain. The nearest of the horde were helping him to stand.

"Be grateful of all that padding you wear, or you would have lost it." Tatewaki mocked. "Now take your sorry band of primates and be gone. Unless, you wish to taste utter defeat at the hands of the Blue Thunder!"

The ominous rumble of thunder drew many eyes towards the gray sky in wonder of how he had timed that.

"Kuno-baby?" Nabiki approached the crazy kendoist, careful to let him know she was there. "What's going on?"

"Ah, Nabiki Tendo." Tatewaki turned towards her. He ignored all the glares he was still receiving. "I'm just dealing with the fools stubborn enough to challenge my rule." Without looking, Tatewaki whipped his bokken toward a nearby boy, the tip stopped a hairsbreadth in front of his nose, causing the startled boy to go cross-eyed in an attempt to see the weapon. He fell back in terror. "Isn't that correct."

There was a collection of terrified nods and almost as one the remaining boys began to scurry away.

"Truly such a boorish lot."

"If you say so." Nabiki stated. "So, what was that about? Looks like you're feeling better today."

"Indeed. Yesterday's illness was an eye opening experience." Tatewaki smirked at something only he found amusing.

"Really." Nabiki prompted for him to continue. He remained silent and just studied her with strangely sharp eyes. Nabiki frowned at the out-of-place keen look of intelligence that had appeared in them.

"Is there something you want Nabiki Tendo?"

"Yeah…I did ask what was going on." Nabiki rolled her eyes.

"So you did."

Nabiki waited a moment before realizing he wasn't going to continue speaking.

"Kuno-baby, are you sure you're feeling better?"

"Better than ever, my future sister-in-law."

"You have no idea how much that I detest that thought." Nabiki drawled.

"Then we are even on that score."

"Well, I guess I'll have to find out for myself." Nabiki stated after another pause. She sniffed and went to walk past Tatewaki when he spoke again.

"What is that information worth?" Tatewaki grinned in amusement.

'Oh, so that's your game.' Nabiki thought with a narrowing of her eyes.

"Okay, how about I tell you the name of your poolside milf?" Nabiki offered.

"Bah, I already know her name."

"I doubt that." Nabiki snorted.

"Oh, but I'm certain I know Ms. Stingray far more…intimately than you." Tatewaki chuckled at Nabiki's startled expression. She quickly gathered her wits.

"How did you figure out who she is?" Nabiki asked. She had never taken Kuno for someone who watched a lot of anime.

"That is a secret." Tatewaki smiled contemptuously down at her. "You see, Nabiki Tendo, you no longer have anything of value to trade me."

"Fine." Nabiki turned away. "Guess you don't want to know where Sylia's staying then."

"Let's not be hasty." Tatewaki quickly caught Nabiki's shoulder, preventing her from leaving. "Tell me where she is."

"Oh I thought I had nothing of value for trade." Nabiki smirked back.

"Tell me. Now!" Tatewaki's grip tightened as he loomed over her. For a moment Nabiki felt concerned over the sudden threatening behavior of Kuno's. She squashed it away, refusing to let him see she had felt intimidated.

"Trade you." Nabiki stated coldly. She bet he wouldn't try to force the answers out of her in front of the school. For a moment she thought she had made a bad bet from the way he glared at her, as if she were something disgusting. As suddenly as that expression crossed his face it vanished and he released her.

"Haha. Truly I underestimated you, Tendo." Kuno causally flicked his hair with his hand. "Very well, a trade."

"Fine. So answer my previous question." Nabiki folded her arms and waited.

"Why, I came to realize how much of a mistake I did by allowing those…primates, to attempt to date the beautiful Akane. I've proclaimed she is now off limits. I will not let her be befouled by these unworthy peons. I also plan to humbly apologize for my actions towards her." Tatewaki stated.

Nabiki frowned as his explanation almost seemed rehearsed.

"Now, Nabiki Tendo, uphold your end."

"Fine, if you want to know exactly where she is, speak to Ranma Saotome." Nabiki told him.

"Ranma Saotome…?" Tatewaki frowned. "Why him?"

"Oh, Sylia and Ranma are *extremely* close." Nabiki hinted. "In fact, you could say they're joined at the hip."

'Let's see what you think of that.' Nabiki added to herself while she kept her face neutral. 'Maybe you'll take care of him for me.'

"Ranma…Saotome…" Tatewaki growled as he wondered how he was close to Sylia. "That devil, not only hounding my Akane, he is involved with Sylia. I will not accept this."

To Nabiki's surprise, instead of exploding into a rant, Kuno's face just darkened scarily. He turned to face the gates. Being raised among martial artists, Nabiki recognized killing intent and it was rolling off Kuno in waves.

'He's serious…' she thought heading away from Kuno and towards the main building. She wondered if she had maybe stirred a hornet's nest but soon squashed that thought. If Kuno could get rid of Ranma, they'd all be better off.

x-X-x

"So, does it still work?" a disguised Akane stepped out of the alleyway beside Ranma. He took a look at her. She was once again looking like a different and boringly normal girl.

"Well?" she adjusted the glasses.

"Yeah…" Ranma replied with a confused expression on his face.

"Great! Let's get going." Akane set off. Ranma shrugged to himself and quickly followed her. He kept stealing glances at Akane as they walked along the street.

"Akane?" Ranma suddenly asked.

"Hmm? What?"

"How exactly do you know how to use that pen thingy?" He scratched the back of his head again. "And for that matter, how the heck does it work?"

"Because your blond form is Usagi." Akane said as if that explained everything.

"I turn into a girl not a rabbit, you know." Ranma pointed out.

"Are you *sure* you're not her at the moment?" Akane eyeballed him closely and Ranma stepped away nervously to keep the girl at a distance.

"Hey, I'm a guy!"

"Only some of the time." Akane laughed at him. His sour expression made her laugh more. "Lighten up will you."

"You trying to be happy with multiple curses and one that makes you almost kill your Pops. See how you like it." Ranma muttered.

"Did you really want to kill him?" Akane quickly quietened down.

"Yes." Ranma answered quietly, almost under his breath.

"But you didn't so it's fine right?"

"Akane, I'm a martial artist." Ranma sighed. "I've trained all my life to gain perfect control of my body, so I can achieve things normal people can't. When I'm her, I just can't control myself…and I just don't care, cause it feels too good. It scar-" Ranma stopped and backtracked. "It's not right."

"Oh…" Akane wondered what that must be like.

"So, how *do* you know how that pen works?" Ranma changed the subject.

"Have you ever heard of Sailormoon?"

"Nope." Ranma replied. "It's not a rude navy officer at all?"

"No, it's a television show I used to watch when I was younger, about Usagi Tsukino who is a magi-…err a superhero." Akane explained.

"A superhero?" Ranma stared at her as if she had grown a second head. "How the heck is that clumsy chick form a superhero?"

"Well, if you had said those words when I asked you to, you would have found out." Akane giggled at the thought.

"Why do I still get the feeling you're trying to make me look stupider." Ranma asked with a finger pointed accusingly at her.

"No I'm not." Akane stated with her fingers crossed behind her back. "In the anime she used that broach you had, to transform in Sailormoon, the beautiful defender of love and justice!"

"Does she kick ass?" Ranma asked, curious about how intense Akane was acting. He didn't care for the beautiful or love part, but the defender of justice didn't sound too bad.

"Definitely! She's super strong! Next time you change you'll have to try it out."

"I still think you're trying to make me look stupid." Ranma muttered. He turned his eyes forward and saw the gates of Furinkan.

"Huh?" Akane stated sounding confused. "What's Kuno doing there? And where's all the other perverts?"

"Hmm?" Ranma could sense Kuno's intense glare rest on him even from where they were. The older boy was definitely spoiling for a fight. Ranma set his face and continued forward confidently. If that Kuno wanted a fight, he'd be happy to oblige. "Looks like he wants to settle things."

"Careful Ranma, he looks…intense." Akane stated for once feeling nervous at the intense glare coming from Kuno. It was completely un-kuno like.

"Yo Kuno. What's up?" Ranma waved as he got close enough.

"I've been waiting for you Saotome. It is time to settle this." Tatewaki stated darkly.

"Settle what?" Ranma asked as he bobbed up and down lightly on his toes. "If it's about the engagement thingy, you'll have to convince our parents. Good luck man, I'm counting on you."

"True I find your engagement to be in ill-taste but I'll deal with that shortly." Tatewaki pointed his bokken at Ranma. "Tell me now why, and I doth quote Nabiki Tendo, Sylia and Ranma are *extremely* close. Tell me how you know Sylia Stingray, Saotome!"

"What?!" Ranma stopped his bobbing in surprise that Kuno knew that name. "Nabiki told you that?"

"You will tell me where she is, before I destroy you."

"Why do you want to know?" Ranma asked as he narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"Our lives are entwined deeper than you could imagine. Hand over her location and I may consider letting you live." Tatewaki continued to point his bokken threateningly towards Ranma.

"Look, Kuno, forget about her. She doesn't even like you. And if I have my way, you'll never see ever again." Ranma stated.

"Why you!" Tatewaki tensed ready to attack, when Ranma suddenly seemed to appear right before his face, inside his guard.

'So fast! I never even saw him move!' Tatewaki thought in surprise as he attempted placed some distance between them. 'This boy is something else…'

"Listen, she thinks you're a reckless and deranged individual with no regard anybody's safety." Ranma followed the older boy, keeping in his face.

"And how do you claim to know her mind?" Tatewaki lashed out with the bokken and hit thin air as Ranma easily hopped over it. The cursed boy grabbed hold of the wooden blade as it passed underneath him and planted both feet into Tatewaki's chest sending him stumbling away.

"I obviously know it better than you." Ranma stated flipping away from Tatewaki as he immediately attacked again once he caught his balance. Tatewaki charged with his bokken held high. He attacked in a powerful downwards swing. Ranma was already gone and the blade sliced destructively, but harmlessly through the school's surrounding wall. Bricks were cleaning sliced in half and tumbled out as Tatewaki pulled the wooden blade back.

'I can't keep up with him…is he even human?' Tatewaki thought studying Ranma carefully.

"Well, is that it?" Ranma asked cockily.

'To think I would find an opponent like this here.' Tatewaki thought while analyzing Ranma's movements in his head. He began calculating all possible ways that the boy could dodge to based on his speed.

"I submit." Tatewaki lowered his sword. "As I am, I cannot defeat you Saotome."

"Huh?" Ranma stated, surprised Kuno had given up so easily.

"What!?" Akane almost shrieked, shock beyond belief that Kuno would admit defeat.

"Who…are you?" Tatewaki asked turning his attention to the strange girl nearby.

"Err…I…I'm…" Akane tried to quickly come up with something to say that wouldn't blow her cover.

"She's my cousin." Ranma hopped over to Akane. "Isn't that right Ak-"

"Ami! I'm Ami!" Akane slammed her hands over Ranma's mouth to shut him up. He almost had said her real name. "Isn't that right? *Ranma*." Akane growled removing her hands.

"Yeah…of course…Ami?" Ranma eyed her curiously. He turned his attention back to Tatewaki. "So you're giving up then."

"You win, for now Saotome. But you had better prepare yourself. I will defeat you eventually." Tatewaki promised. "I do not know what game you're playing Saotome, or how you can claim to have any power over my Sylia, but I will find out."

"Am I playing a game?" Ranma asked Akane, who shrugged in reply.

"Ranma Saotome…" On a strange whim, Tatewaki sent a message only those like himself could hear.

"What now Kuno?" Ranma answered out loud. Akane looked at Ranma strangely as she had not heard Kuno say anything.

"I…see." Tatewaki's eyes widened in surprise. "Till next time we meet." Tatewaki turned and walked away. His face twisted into an unpleasant grimace once they could not see, before becoming more thoughtful.

'Sylia…it seems you've been busy.' Tatewaki thought. 'Have you continued with your father's work Sylia? Interesting…I will have to watch that boy carefully. If he even is a boy.'

End Chapter


	4. Chapter 4

**Terror Blossom**

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The Terror Mask belongs to Namco. I'm just borrowing the concept.

_**The Terror Mask speaking to Sakura**_

The glassy, lifeless eyes of the rather large and not to mention ugly in Sakura's opinion, Jinmengyo koi seemed to stare up at her with an accusatory glare. The fish's face had an almost creepy resemblance to that of a human's, which she supposed was possibly why trainee medic-nins, such as herself, began their training using one. Or maybe Tsunade-sensei was just trying to spook her.

Whatever the reason, it was working. So far she had not managed to receive a flicker of life from it, no matter how hard she tried. She was working against the clock as there was only a finite time, a short window of time that something could be revived.

Sakura wiped her forehead with the back of her forearm before steeling herself, green eyes staring intensely at the koi. Gathering up her chakra once more, Sakura took a deep breath and thought back to how Tsunade-sensei had demonstrated.

_"Reach out with your chakra, feel the body below your hands. Search for the damage and then use it to coax it to heal." Tsunade stated as she demonstrated to a rapt Sakura. The Hokage's hand moved over the dead fish, just above it, not quite touching. "This is an exercise of control mostly. A fish of this size has very little chakra. Apply too little and it won't revive. Apply too much and you destroy it for good."_

_As Tsunade spoke, the formally dead fish below her hand burst into motion, coming back to life with spasm followed by a rapid thrashing of its body._

Sakura focused intently on the lifeless body below her hands, seeking out the damage. To be honest, she found being able to feel a creature's insides in minute detail with her chakra was rather gross, but she forced the distraction from her mind.

'Come on...live!' Sakura mentally growled as she pumped her chakra into the fish. Suddenly the koi bucked under her hands and in surprise she flinched back before realizing it had moved and whipped her head around excitedly towards Tsunade, panting slightly from the exertion.

Success!

Tsunade shook her head indicating she had failed. Sakura's face dropped like a ton of bricks.

"But...it moved?" she questioned.

"Sorry Sakura." Tsunade stated from the lounger behind her student. "That was a muscle spasm caused by the excess chakra you used shattering its internal organs."

Sakura slowly turned back to look at the koi and realised her sensei was correct. The koi's eyes bulged out of its head and its body was stuck at an unnatural right-angle, the spine probably shattered from the involuntary muscle contraction. Some fluids were slowly leaking from the mouth of the bent koi onto the scroll below it.

"Damnit!" she swore quietly under her breath as she hung her head. "I'm useless as usual. I'll never catch up with Naruto or Sasuke at this rate."

She slammed a clenched fist into the table top in a mix for frustration and depression while chewing her lower lip.

"Sakura, I've only been tutoring you for a month." Tsunade stated, attempting to cheer up the frustrated girl. "Nobody learns this that fast. Not even I did."

No reply.

With a sigh Tsunade climbed to her feet and approached her student. "I think it's time for a break." she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"No." Sakura shook her head. "I'll try again. I have to get stronger." The last was added quietly.

"No." Tsunade told her firmly while reaching out and taking hold of Sakura's hand so she couldn't begin cleaning up for another try.

"But..."

"No buts." Tsunade shook her head. "You're tired and frustrated at the moment. It would be a waste of time and koi for you to continue for today. Go home and rest."

Sakura glanced up at Tsunade and saw the look of concern and mistook it for pity. She looked away.

"I don't need to rest. I need to catch up."

Tsunade folded her arms across her ample chest and leaned her head back in thought. Shortly she had an idea to give Sakura a break while making it seem like she was doing something important. "Very well, how about something different for a while?"

Sakura glanced back in curiosity and waited silently for Tsunade to continue.

"I have a quick mission you could do for me. It's pretty simple but I'll class it as C-rank for you for the extra pay." Tsunade winked. "When you get back I'll demonstrate the techniques again and you can have another go. Interested?"

Sakura mulled it over for a moment before answering. "What's the mission sensei?"

"Basically, there's a small group of researchers digging up anything and everything from the old Hattori ruins on the very outskirts of Konoha. They're there searching and studying any old relics that they've dug up. You know the stuff, ancient weapons, coins, pottery and other bits and pieces from bygone eras."

"Relics?" Sakura asked unconvinced.

"Yes relics. Old stuff."

"So...what do you want me to do?"

"They usually send me a boring..." Tsunade paused for a couple of seconds before giving a slightly embarrassed cough after realising what she had just admitted. "...report every week on their progress. I haven't received one this week. I just need you to check up on them and bring this week's report back."

"That's it? Fine." Sakura sighed. 'Damn you! You think I'm stupid and weak too!' Inner-Sakura howled.

Tsunade walked over towards the shelves to the rear of the room, rummaged around a bit before returning with a scroll. With a simple movement she pressed her chakra into the scroll and sealed it before holding it out for Sakura.

"Take this scroll as proof of identify if anyone doesn't believe you. You'll find them posted in the partially hastily refurbished main house of the Hattori clan ruins. East of the Hokage monum..."

"I know where it is." Sakura sighed as she took the scroll before turning to leave. "I'll be right back."

Tsunade waited till Sakura had left the room before starting to clean up the mess left by Sakura's attempt to revive the dead koi.

"She's setting herself up for frustration and failure if she expects to match those two in just a month." the Hokage sighed.

x X x

Sakura walked out the main gates of Konoha's main hospital and paused. She glanced back over her shoulder at the building before sighing and shrugging. She began to mechanically walk towards the Hokage tower, head held down. It would be quickest to head that way and then head east. It would have been even quicker to roof-hop but she didn't feel up to it.

'Why I'm I so far behind still?' Sakura thought depressingly. 'I'm trying my hardest and still not getting anywhere. Sasuke would be able to learn that on his first try and Naruto would have worked out his own way of doing it by now.'

'Raah! It's not fair!' Inner-Sakura raged impotently.

"Oi oi! Sakuuuuuraaa!" called out a far too cheerful female voice. Sakura halted in her progress and turned towards the voice. As she expected there was Ino waving like mad woman as she rushed over.

Behind her the rest of the younger Ino-Shika-Cho team, along with Asuma stood watching. Shikamaru was rubbing a finger in one ear and muttering something Sakura couldn't hear but she could guess was unflattering after Ino's bellow.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino grinned grabbing a hold of Sakura's nearest arm as she got into range. "How's the training going?"

Sakura's only reply was to growl.

"Whoa!" Ino exclaimed backing away in surprise. "Touchy subject eh."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed huffing, making her pink fringe billow upwards.

"Wow, must be bad. Your face is almost as long as your head is wide." Ino motioned moving her hands apart and earned a particularly harsh glare for that comment.

"Women, never know when to shut up." Shikamaru muttered at Ino's comment as they stopped beside the two girls. Twin angry glares were directed towards him, but he was too lazy to react bothered and yawned.

'Die in a fire.' Inner-Sakura commented.

"For a genius you don't learn to keep your comments to yourself." Asuma chuckled watching on bemused, his ever present cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Ignore him." Ino turned back to Sakura.

"Ignore who?" Sakura sassed.

"Ha!" Ino grinned and tugged on Sakura's arm, prompting her to walk with her. "Come on, we're heading to the barbecue place...again." Ino rolled her eyes. "Tag along, it'll cheer you up!"

"No thanks. I'm actually on a mission for Tsunade-sensei."

"Really?"

"Could you try to sound a bit more surprised?" Sakura grumbled as they walked along.

"Heh, sorry...so what's the mission?" Ino asked eyeing the other girl slyly. "Must be important if it's from our Hokage right!"

"Delivery girl." Sakura stated flatly with as much emotion as a rock.

"Delivery girl?"

There was an amused snort from behind them. Sakura didn't need to turn around to know it had been Shikamaru.

"Well...that's...err cool. I guess." Ino said carefully. "So...what are you delivering? Or is it top secret?"

"Nothing. I'm picking up a report and bringing it back. That's all."

"Oh." Ino remained silent for a moment before deciding to continue to keep Sakura talking. "Guess you're heading out of Konoha. Probably won't be back till after dark or tomorrow?"

"Pfft. I wish." Sakura snorted. "I'm only going up to the old Hattori ruins where most likely a bunch of old guys are digging up even older relics that are of no use to anyone."

"Did you say the Hattori ruins?" Asuma suddenly spoke up. Everyone either turned around or looked up towards the large Jounin.

"Yeah." Sakura confirmed.

"You know, I was just talking with one of the guys that are posted out there the other day while he was waiting to see Tsunade-sama. He said they'd found something buried beneath the main house." Asuma explained. "Said it was the find of the century or some such."

Sakura exchanged a curious glance with Ino.

"Buried? That means digging. Sounds like too much work just to see old stuff." Shikamaru muttered, letting his opinion be known.

"They actually went as far as asking for a small group of ANBU guards to patrol the grounds to keep the 'artefact' safe." Asuma emphasised the word artefact.

"What sort of artefact?" Ino asked, curiosity written across her face.

"No idea. The guy didn't say any more than that." Asuma shrugged. "All I can guess is it's worth a fair amount of money to a collector if they asked for ANBU guards."

"Ooooooh!" Ino's eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing a priceless artefact. "Hey Sakuuuura...mind if I tag along?"

"Don't you have a barbecue to go to?" Sakura queried, not thrilled with having someone tagging along at this moment in time.

"Feh, I'm on a diet anyway." Ino casually replied with a flick of her hand. "Choji can have my share."

"Ino's the greatest!" Choji cheered as the blonde was suddenly engulfed in a Choji sized bear hug.

"Gah! Knock it off!" Ino struggled out of Choji's arms. "Don't ever do that again!" she panted and glared at the sudden invasion of her private space. Too bad Choji was already off down the street to receive it.

"Come on then Shikamaru, we better get a move on if we want to have anything left." Asuma smirked and followed the rapidly shrinking form of Choji. "Have fun you two." He waved in passing.

"So I can come?" Ino asked.

"Knock yourself out." Sakura replied half-heartedly.

'Literally!' Inner-Sakura stated.

x X x

The shadows were beginning to lengthen by the time Sakura and Ino reached the gates to the once magnificent Hattori clan district. The walls that surrounded the land were easily eight feet tall and despite the lack of recent care they still stood strong.

"Keep out. Danger. Beware of falling masonry." Ino read off the multitude of hastily erected signs that littered the ruined gates. "Joy. I really need to be dodging falling rocks."

"It can't be that bad." Sakura decided. "There are guys digging in there afterall."

Sakura walked up to and pushed against the tall and old wooden gate. The gate flexed under her hand and she could feel that the wood was damp having been left to the elements for so long. The gate shuddered a moment before moving and suddenly came to a halt as it dug into the ground from its own weight pulling downwards on ancient hinges.

Sakura sighed before putting her shoulder against the gate and pushing with all her strength. The gate slowly grinded open as she pushed, leaving a freshly scuffed patch on the pathway behind it. Deciding she couldn't be bothered to force the gate all the way open she stopped once there was a large enough gap for the two of them to get through.

"Ladies first." Ino chuckled pushing past Sakura. Sakura rolled her eyes as she brushed off the dirt on her bare shoulder before following.

"What a dump." Ino exclaimed with an unhappy huff, hands on hips.

"It's been empty for years, what do you expect?" Sakura stated, although internally she agreed. The path was overgrown. The trees that lined the path, that would have once been carefully tended to grew wildly, their branches reaching up and hanging over the path covering it in shadow. Lumps of fallen stone could be seen littering the edges and Sakura came to realise they would have once been statues.

"Hmm, I don't see anyone." Her blonde companion stated unsurely as she looked around.

"Probably because everyone's up at the main house." Sakura replied taking the lead. Ino glanced around again as a chill breeze picked up. She shivered and only partly from the cold, something didn't feel right suddenly. Turning back to where Sakura should have been, Ino almost panicked until she realised the pink-haired girl was just up ahead.

"Oi! Wait up!" she rushed after her friend while berating herself for acting so panicky. She was a ninja, she shouldn't be jumping at shadows.

It was definitely strange Ino thought as they walked up the path underneath the reaching branches above. It was as if they had entered a tunnel, the light was so low it felt almost like it had suddenly gone from just before sunset to midnight in an instant. The branches above their heads began to rustle and yet Ino did not feel any breeze this time. She glanced around nervously once again as the feeling of wrongness returned.

"Do you feel that Sakura?" Ino asked glancing to the side.

"Feel what?" Sakura asked without looking back.

"Nothing." Ino stated lamely. She took a deep breath and steeled herself calming her emotions. She'd rather not let Sakura think she was scared or anything. They may have made up and whatnot, but she still felt competitive towards the other girl. As Ino glanced back the way they had came her eyes widened in surprise.

To her eyes the path seemed to suddenly move, as if rushing away from her as it stretched out impossibly far, as if they had walked miles and could barely see the exit. She squeezed her eyes shut, counted to five before opening them again. The path was back to normal.

"What the hell was...that?" Ino whispered to herself unsure if she had actually seen what she had thought she saw.

"Are you coming?" Sakura's annoyed voice asked breaking her thoughts.

"Yes!" Ino almost shrieked rushing over.

"What's up with you?"

"Hahahah..." Ino lamely laughed. "Nothing. Nothing. Let's just get going. This place reminds me too much of the Forest of Death."

'Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say.' Ino mentally slapped herself seeing Sakura clench her fists tightly. She looked a tad angry.

"I'd rather you never mentioned that place again." Sakura growled in remembrance of where everything had begun to go wrong with her life, before collecting herself. "Come on."

'Stupid. Stupid.' Ino groaned internally. 'Touchy subject.'

The remainder of the trek through the darkened tunnel of trees passed uneventfully. Neither girl felt like talking anymore and they walked along in silence until exiting out and into what had once been the courtyard of the main house.

"Wow." Ino stated looking over the courtyard and trying to imagine it as it had once been.

In front of them was a very large pond. Either side of it there was an exquisitely carved pair of wooden bridges over the now dirty water. The bridges curved over the pond and halfway across a small section was built up with a roof for shade on hot days. The once red and golden paint of the bridges was flaked and peeling. Right in the centre of the pond was a stone water fountain in the shape of a woman carrying a large water vessel as she poured it out into the pond. Of course, no water flowed from it now and the statue was covered in a dull green and brown moss.

"Must have been impressive once." Sakura agreed eyeing the bridges. The right-hand side one was blocked with a sign stating 'Do Not Cross. Rotten Wood'. Sakura shrugged at the second bridge being out of order, before stepping forward with Ino following very close behind.

As they carefully crossed the often slippery bridge, Ino became curious and glanced over the side down at the water. The water was so thick with filth that it was almost black. A few dead leaves floated on the surface but that was all, no insects buzzed over that water and there certainly couldn't be any fish in there she thought.

Ino watched her pale reflection stare back up at her. It was decidedly creepy how the water made her reflection look shrunken-eyed and pale-grey skinned like that of a corpse. As she watched on, what she thought was her reflection suddenly moved. It thrashed about under the water as if drowning.

Ino almost leapt away in shock before she realised someone was under the water and they looked like they were drowning. She quickly leant over the edge and reached out a hand for the other person to grab. The girl under the water reached up as well, fingers grasping out towards Ino.

"Come on! Reach me!" Ino declared not able to reach. She leant over more, her grip on the edge becoming precarious as she struggled to save the drowning girl. Their fingers almost met when she felt a pair of hands grab her shirt. Ino found herself flung backwards away from the edge, she landed with a thump momentarily stunned before looking up.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Sakura shouted. "You were almost in the water!"

"Quick! There's someone drowning!" Ino scrambled to her feet and rushed over again. She looked down and blinked, to her surprise there was no one there, just her own reflection that was soon joined by Sakura's annoyed looking one.

"Huh?"

"Really. I can only see us." Sakura deadpanned.

"But...there...I mean..." Ino stared down confused. The dark water was totally still, not a ripple. No sign there had been anyone struggling underneath it.

"If I'd known you'd be this much trouble..." Sakura grumbled.

"But..." Ino blinked and placed her hands against the sides of her head. She closed her eyes and breathed, calming herself down with a meditating technique. Opening her eyes again she looked at Sakura. "Something weird is going on here. It's like I keep getting pulled into genjutsu's..."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked arms folded.

"Yeah...I keep seeing things."

"Maybe the ANBU guards think we're just a couple of kids and are trying to scare us off." Sakura mused aloud.

"You think so?" Ino glanced around searching for ANBU masks in the trees.

"Well, if they are I'll be informing the Hokage of this." Sakura stated loudly enough that if anyone was nearby they'd hear it. "Come on, let's get a move on. I'd have liked to have gotten that report by now and been back before sunset." Sakura stated as she took off at a quicker pace, this time taking hold of Ino's arm and making sure the girl didn't wander out of her sight again.

The two girls were soon approaching the main house even as the sun dipped down toward the horizon. The main house was massive Sakura realised as the approached it. It was more a mansion than a house. She counted three stories from the darkened windows. The house's construction was definitely not in line with the rest of Konoha as it had been made with a design or a vision. Every brick, window and tile seemed to have a purpose in the overall scheme giving the mansion an impressive air even in the notable state of disrepair it was in.

"It's huge!" Ino declared with a hint of despair as they climbed the stone steps outside. "How are we going to find them in this?"

"Relax. The building's probably so run down you can only get into certain parts." Sakura reassured. She noted there was a couple of equipment crates and digging equipment laid nearby them. The equipment consisted of a few shovels, hammers and a nasty looking pickaxe. That was a good sign that the archaeologist, team had setup base close by. At the top of the steps a wheelbarrow lay on its side, contents spilling unceremoniously across the top step, mostly rubble.

'Strange, looks like it was abandoned in a hurry.' Sakura thought curiously as they passed by.

"Now those guys are ugly." Ino pointed out the two gargoyle-like statues to either side of the door, mouths open in a vicious roar to scare off would be intruders. Their ugly pug-nosed faces contorted into a look of pure rage and malice.

"Hell yeah." Sakura nodded in agreement. "Who'd want those outside their house?"

"A freak?" Ino put forward.

Sakura grimaced at the extended snake-like tongues that reminded her entire too much of Orochimaru. Which in turn, reminded her that Sasuke had gone to the freak, which made her anger and frustration at being unable to change events of the past to bubble up again. She ground her teeth and wished once again she could do something about it. She truly wanted to kill the snake...

_**Come to me.**_

Sakura's head snapped up, her thoughts of killing a certain Sannin instantly forgotten when she heard that voice, a voice that seemed to echo around her head. The shear malevolence and power dripping from the whisper sent a shiver down her spine. She found herself scanning the area, her training and recent experiences sending her into auto-pilot. She caught herself half reaching for her kunai pouch strapped to her leg.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked sensing Sakura tense up.

"Did you hear something just now?" Sakura asked scanning the tree line.

"No." Ino replied sounding entirely unsure. "Did you?"

"Must be hearing things." Sakura muttered shaking her head to clear the weird sensation that had came over her. Turning quickly she marched over to the door and looked for a handle. "Let's get this over with."

"Wait Sakura, maybe we should...erm...go back and get sensei or someone else to come with us."

"Whatever for?" Sakura replied tugging on the door handle she had found. It refused to budge, completely stuck.

"I don't like this...I'm seeing weird things and you just heard something..."

"It was just my imagination." Sakura reasoned giving the door a testing shove. It remained solidly closed. She stepped back and looked up. "It's stuck."

"What if it's not? What if something's wrong here?"

"Drop it Ino." Sakura stated spotting a large door knocker and reaching up for it.

"Sakura, I'm not joking here. Something is very _wrong_ with this place."

"What's _wrong_ is you've been eating those weeds again your mother told you not to." Sakura stated.

"Hey! I only did that once!" Ino shrieked all sense of worry vanished in a wave of embarrassment, anger and queasy remembrance of the weird hallucinations she had experienced when she had been younger.

Sakura grinned as she slammed the knocker a couple of times. The sound seemed to boom far louder than it should.

"Did you have to do that?" Ino questioned nervously, going back to being worried.

"If there's anyone around they'll have heard that." Sakura turned back to Ino.

"That's what I'm worried about." Ino muttered.

The pair stood there waiting in silence for any sign of movement inside the house. After a minute or so nothing had changed. A rumble of thunder made them both glance up in surprise at the sky that was rapidly becoming covered in clouds.

"You're kidding..." Sakura glared up the darkening sky as if daring it to rain. A large drop of water splashed on her face. 'Things just keep getting better and better.' She thought sarcastically.

"Well." Ino nodded as the heavy drops began to fall. "Looks like nobody's home. Can we go now?"

"Y..." Sakura started to agree when with an ominous groan, the door creaked open. The rain began to fall in earnest as the pair glanced at each other. Since neither one wanted to stay outside in the rain, Sakura quickly slipped inside. Ino however hesitated a moment at the strange convenience of the door opening just as they needed to take cover. A flash of lightening made her mind up for her and she rushed to follow Sakura inside.

Just inside the doorway, Ino bumped into Sakura's back.

"Okay...that's just too freaky." Ino stated nervously glancing around the darkened interior and seeing no one that could have opened the door for them. "You said it was stuck!"

"It was." Sakura replied stepping further inside. She sniffed the air. It smelt old and musty but she could also smell damp earth coming from somewhere, could be dig site she reasoned. There was another unpleasant smell, faintly wafting past on the breeze that blew from somewhere.

"Then who opened it?" Ino gestured with her arms towards the empty entrance hall they stood in. "Cause I don't see anyone."

"The wind?" Sakura shrugged, unconvinced herself.

"Choji couldn't shift that with wind." Ino muttered under her breath not bothering to argue any longer with Sakura. Instead she scanned the entrance hall.

Right before them was the widest staircase she had seen inside a building before. It led up to the second floor, which then split off into two stairs, one going left, the other right and led to a balcony above their heads. The room itself went all the way to the top of the third floor. To their left the balcony had collapsed, burying the hallway off that way and preventing anyone passing. The balcony itself was being held up with scaffolding.

Ino listened in carefully. The only sound she heard was the wind blowing and the noise of rain from outside.

"Now what fearless leader?" Ino asked. Sakura gave her a withering glare before cupping her hands to her mouth.

"Anyone here?" Sakura bellowed. "I've been sent by the Hokage!"

Ino glanced around fretfully in the darkened interior. Was it her imagination or was it getting darker in here? The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone around." Sakura stated.

"So what do we do now?"

A sudden gust of wind blew past them carrying that smell, which Sakura instinctively knew was bad. The main door was slammed shut violently with a loud bang. Both girls turned to stare.

"Wind. Told ya." Despite the smell of rot, Sakura grinned in triumph.

Ino just glared. "Let's find them and get the hell out of here okay!"

"I'm with you on that." Sakura nodded.

"Can you find a lamp or candles or something?" Ino asked moving over to some more crates that she spotted to their right. They were piled up against the side of the stairs.

"You're not afraid of the dark. Are you?" Sakura asked mischievously, enjoying having the upper hand for once in their friendly verbal sparring.

"Of course not!" Ino replied lifting the loose lid off the nearest crate. "I'm afraid of bloody haunted houses!"

"Oh come on..." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"No you come on!" Ino rummaged around in the crate and gave a triumphant squeak as she found some flashlights and switched one on. "Yes! Light!" she tossed another to Sakura who deftly caught it.

"You really believe that?" Sakura asked flicking her flashlight on and sweeping the beam across the room.

"Of course this is a haunted house! We had to walk through a creepy forest to find it." Ino began ticking off a list on her fingers. "There's a pond full of nasty water. Creepy looking gargoyles. I'm seeing things. You're hearing things. Doors opening and closing themselves and its thundering and lightening outside! If this isn't a textbook haunted house I don't know what is."

It was at that moment there was a loud thud upstairs and the sound of pottery smashing.

"Add things that go bump in the night to the list." Ino stated with a gulp while shining her flashlight up towards the sound.

"Sounds like someone's up there." Sakura moved around the banister and stepped onto the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Hissed an irate Ino as she grabbed the back of Sakura's red dress with the slits up the sides. "You do not go and investigate strange noises by yourself in a haunted house!"

"Will you quit it Ino!" Sakura growled. "Act like a shinobi!"

Ino was taken aback for a moment at hearing words like that from Sakura.

"Since when have you been little miss perfect shinobi? Forehead!"

"I'm not the one scared of the dark! Piggy!" Sakura sent back. "Grow a spine!"

"Fine!" Ino huffed. "We'll go look! But if I die I'll kill you!"

"Stay behind me then." Sakura grumbled at the situation as she climbed the stairs.

"Oh no way." Ino hissed drawing up alongside Sakura. "It's always the guy at the back that gets it first."

"Right..." Sakura drawled.

At the top of the stairs Sakura paused.

"What is..."

"Shh!" Sakura shushed Ino and strained her hearing. The noise she had thought she heard was not an illusion. A rhythmic light thudding that was repeated roughly every five seconds. "You hear that?"

"Y...yeah." Ino nodded. "What's making that noise?"

"Dunno. But we're going to find out."

Ino swallowed. "Oh great..."

They climbed the second shorter flight of stairs to the right and walked along the balcony towards one of the doors that led further into the mansion. As they approach the old oaken door the thudding grew easier to hear.

"It's definitely coming from this way." Sakura whispered as she slowly tried the door handle. The handle moved smoothly and with a faint squeak from the hinges, the door opened inwards.

Twin beams of light were shone down the newly revealed corridor. Windows lined one wall. The rain outside battered against them and the drops of water that stuck soon grew large enough to begin racing downwards. A flash of lightening suddenly illuminated the corridor, casting weird shadows from the water covered windows. The thunder rumbled almost immediately afterwards, shaking the windows with the volume.

"That's right over head." Ino moaned.

"Listen!" Sakura once again signalled for silence. The thudding was still continuing, unchanged. "It's close." She began to carefully and quietly make her way towards the sound. They paused at each door and listened with an ear against the wood panelling. At the fourth door down Sakura turned to Ino.

"It's coming from inside here." She stated as the sound was definitely on the other side. Ino positioned herself to the other side of the doorframe and drew a kunai. Sakura copied while reaching for the door handle. With a nod, Sakura pushed the handle door and swung the door inwards as they both shone their flashlights into the room, ready to let loose a barrage of weapons.

They paused at the sight of a familiar uniform. It was an ANBU guard. The ANBU was stood with his or her back to them and slowly pulled their head back before dropping it forward to thud against the wall. This was then repeated again and again.

"Sakura?" Ino whispered in confusion. "What's he doing?"

"I...don't know..." Sakura replied after squashing her automatic reply of head-banging.

"Well ask him."

"Me?" Sakura turned to Ino.

"It's your mission!" Ino hissed back.

"Um...excuse me? Mister?" Sakura spoke shining the flashlight onto the ANBU, she noted it was a guy by his shape. He did not react, just kept repeatedly bashing his masked face against the wall. Sakura glanced at Ino who shrugged.

"Hello?" Sakura tried again. Once again the ANBU did not react.

Sakura indicated with a sideways movement of her head they would go inside the room. Ino shook her head.

"No way." The blonde hissed.

"Yes way!" Sakura hissed back. "Unless you want to stay out here by yourself."

"Fine! You win." Ino stepped into the room with Sakura. "Now what?"

Sakura swallowed and steeled herself. She had promised she wouldn't be a coward anymore and this time she was going to prove it. Taking another step forward she reached out with a shaky hand towards the ANBU.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked firmly taking hold of the guy's arm. Again there was no reaction. "Mister?" She shook his arm gently.

"Something's wrong with him." Ino stated curiously but kept her distance.

Sakura frowned as she examined him for injuries. She couldn't see anything at first, but as she looked at this arm she held see noticed his fingers were covered in dried blood. Sakura let go of his arm and it flopped down like a puppet with its strings cut.

"It's like he's not there or something." Sakura stated drawing on her chakra and holding a hand to his back. She concentrated on her training and felt out for any injury he had suffered. He was alive, she could tell that. His heart was beating, his lungs still worked. She frowned finding a small scabbed over hole in his chest, as if something had bored into him, leaving a trail of torn flesh, she slowly traced the damage seeking out what had done this.

"So what's wrong?" Ino asked breaking her concentration before she could find out what had caused the weird internal wounds.

"I don't know." Sakura muttered. "If someone hadn't interrupted me I might have figured it out."

"Well sooorry!" Ino replied with a sniff.

"Look at his hands." Sakura lifted one hand again and showed it to Ino. She spotted the dried blood instantly.

"Is it his?"

"I think so. My guess he held them against the chest wound to stop the bleeding." Sakura tugged on his arm pulling him slightly away from the wall. The man followed, giving no resistance to her pulling him away, nor did he lose his balance.

"So he was attacked?"

"I think so." Sakura stated while glancing around the room to see what there was. It seemed they had found one of the rooms the archaeologist's must be using to rest and study in. There was a couch that could double as a bed to the furthest wall. A display like cabinet stood slightly away from the wall the door was in. Inside were what looked like a few bones and pottery, a couple of pieces of what looked like jewellery and a short rusty wakizashi sword.

"Let's get him over to the couch." Sakura stated. "I'll be able to get a better idea what happened if he's laid down."

Between the pair of them they had no trouble leading the unresisting ANBU over to the couch. Sakura carefully lowered him into the couch and rested his head gently on the arm. Ino then lifted his legs so he was laid out carefully.

"Now what?" Ino questioned.

"You go see if there are any medical items over on that desk." Sakura pointed to the desk that was to the left of where they had found the ANBU. It was covered in scrolls and looked as if someone had scattered them haphazardly while looking for something.

"Okay." Ino nodded and rushed off to search the desk.

While she was doing that Sakura returned her attention to injured ANBU, whose injuries she would quickly treat. Then she'd get Ino to inform the Hokage while she looked after him. It sounded good in theory; well she couldn't just leave him alone. She placed her flashlight down on the ANBU's chest, letting the light shine on his mask.

'Let's get this mask off first.' Sakura thought carefully taking hold of the hawk mask he wore and she unclipped the harness before lifting it clear. Her eyes went wide at the sight of his face and she felt bile threaten to rise even as her fingers went numb and she dropped the mask.

His eyes were missing. Not just missing, they had been gorged out. Thick nasty scratches covered his face by his eyes, scratches deep enough to have pulled strips of flesh from his face and she absently realised the blood on his fingers had not come from his chest. Had he ripped his own eyes out?

She snapped out of her shock at the sound of the mask shattering on the floor and Ino calling out her name.

"Don't come near!" Sakura warned too late as Ino shone the flashlight down. You could see the colour drain from her face and she spun away and began dry heaving while leaning against the wall. Sakura wanted to join her but resisted the urge, focusing on her medical training as Tsunade-sensei had taught her. She detached herself from the situation so she could carefully analyse what to do.

"_In a life or death situation for the patient you can't afford to get emotional. You need to remain calm at all times otherwise the chances of them surviving drop exponentially." Tsunade had warned her._

Sakura took a quick study of the damage once more. Despite the sickening damage to his face, he would live. It was good that the bleeding had stopped, but she wondered what had caused him to mutilate himself so and why had he put his mask back on? Instinct maybe?

Sakura stood slowly on shaky legs. He was stable that was all that mattered for now.

"Ino? Are you okay?" Sakura asked moving over, placing a hand lightly on Ino's shoulder.

"Peachy..." Ino ground out weakly. "Good thing I skipped dinner. W...what happened to him?"

"I have no idea..."

"Who would do something...forget it, there's loads of freaks who'd do something like that." Ino still looked pale but she stood up. "What do we do?"

"I think we need to tell someone." Sakura glanced back at the injured ANBU. "I'll look after him while you inform Tsunade-sensei."

"But that'll leave you alone with whoever did that." Ino pointed a shaky finger towards the couch.

"I'll quickly write a report of the damage on one of these scrolls." Sakura walked over to the desk and began searching for an empty scroll she could write on. As she shuffled the scrolls her finger caught something solid beneath the paper. A strange jolt of energy seemed to catch her fingers making them tingle even as she pulled her hand back as if bitten. She paused, a frown decorating her face and lifted the scroll out of the way.

On the desktop lay a mask. It was vaguely skull shaped and slightly yellowed with age. For some reason Sakura felt as if the empty sockets were regarding her eagerly. She found her fingers reaching out for it unconsciously.

_**Yes. Come to me.**_

Sakura yanked her hand back as if stung. There was that voice again.

"Are you oka...whoa that's one ugly mask!" Ino exclaimed snatching it up and examining it. She noted how heavy it was, it weighed as if it was made from solid steel. Where her fingers came into contact with it she felt a strange buzz, almost like electricity and the mask felt warm, almost alive. With a confused frown Ino stated. "There's no straps to hold it on. How would someone wear this thing? It weighs a ton."

"Put it down Ino." Sakura stated feeling concerned for her friend's wellbeing for some unknown reason.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Sakura hissed. "It's...wrong."

"Okay..." Ino breathed and carefully placed it back.

Sakura watched Ino put the mask down like a hawk until the girl had let go of it, then she relaxed. Sakura did not understand why she had reacted that way, aside from a gut feeling it was bad news. She turned her attention to the scroll again when one suddenly rolled towards her unravelling. Sakura caught the wooden centre the scroll was wrapped around and paused as the text caught her eye.

"What's that?" Ino leaned over her shoulder.

"The report I was sent for." Sakura replied scanning the text. "Listen to this." She began to read it aloud.

"Day Fourteen: We've found something amazing! While exploring below the main house in the basement, one of the support beams suddenly collapsed. It was a miracle no one was hurt in the following chaos as a whole section of the building came down on us. When the dust settled we had only suffered a few scrapes and bruises to our astonishment. But that was not to most startling surprise that day. The collapse had opened up a hole leading to another room below the basement."

"Eagerly we rigged up ropes and climbed down. The walls of the hole are completely smooth, definitely manmade and it descends at least twenty yards before we found the chamber. It was a shocking scene to behold. Bones. Hundreds upon hundreds of bones, the remains of who knows how many people. I theorise they were thrown into this pit and then it was sealed, whether as criminals or a sacrifice we have yet to decide. Who these people were we have no idea but I believe we can figure out this mystery in time."

"Day Fifteen: While studying the pit we discovered a large artefact buried beneath the bodies. A monolith made from some unusual stone, it seems to hold some power and responds to chakra. Not only that but we found what appears to be a mask embedded into the rock. I intend to remove the mask for further study."

"That must be this thing." Ino stated pointing at the skull like mask.

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "Day Sixteen: Something odd is occurring nearby. Fudo says he's seen something out in the woods, sort of man shaped but not a man. I put it down to over excitement at our discovery but...ever since we removed the mask I've felt as if I'm being watched."

"Day Seventeen: Nearly everyone has started seeing things in the woods. So far, I have not but the nagging feeling of being watched persists. I've sent Fudo back into Konoha to request ANBU guards to patrol the woods just in case. My research into what the mask and the monolith are is slowly progressing. I believe I've translated some of the writings on the monolith. It seems to be ward of some kind. The mask I believe was thought of as important. I'll know more soon."

"Day Eighteen: The ANBU guards arrived and have begun patrolling. My research continues."

"Day Nineteen: Troubling news. One of the ANBU guards has gone missing. The others have been searching all day and so far nothing. Our research is being hampered now as they won't let us out of their sight."

"I'm afraid...I think we've made a grave error. The mask was never supposed to be removed. It's a seal. The only other thing I can translate is 'darkness and death'. This is serious, perhaps a disaster waiting to happen on the level of the Kyuubi. Maybe worse. I request immediate action by the Hokage. Tonight I'll try and reseal the mask...it ends there." Sakura finished studying the scroll.

"That line?" Ino stated tracing the rough squiggle that leapt across the scroll. "Looks as if someone..."

"Attacked him while he was writing." Sakura finished.

"A disaster on the level of the Kyuubi. That doesn't sound good." Ino stated ominously. "What should we do?"

Behind them, neither girl noticed the injured ANBU sit up straight and turn his eyeless visage towards them. His lips drew back in a silent snarl as he climbed to his feet.

"We get this to the Hokage." Sakura stated beginning to wind the scroll up.

The ANBU approached them slowly and deliberately, his bloodied right hand reached behind his back and drew the sword strapped there silently. The blade gleamed as another flash of lightening occurred.

Sakura stood up and sealed the scroll.

"Ino get this to...urk!" Sakura blinked in surprise as something cold passed through her. Absently she glanced down seeing a short sword sticking out from her chest. Then she coughed and the taste of blood entered her mouth seconds before the pain took over.

Sakura fell forward and caught the edge of the desk. She was sure she could hear Ino screaming something, but everything seemed to be fading. The front of her dress felt warm and wet. Her fingers went numb and her grip failed. As Sakura hit the ground she saw Ino take a blow across her face.

'Oh, I'm dying...' she thought feeling curiously sleepy. Ino slammed against the wall and slid down bonelessly even as the light faded. 'Ino...I'm sorry.'

x X x

It was dark Sakura realized. She wasn't in any pain anymore. As she lay or floated or whatever she was doing she could hear something. It sounded like breathing. Yes, breathing, heavy and powerful breathing. A weird sliding sensation and then a rapid thump, thump, followed by a short silence and then another thump, thump and a sound like rushing water.

'This is weird...' Sakura thought surprised she could think. 'Aren't I dead?'

_**You're not dead yet.**_

That voice again. The evil creepy voice.

'Go away...I'm dead.'

Laughter.

_**You and I are destined! Now get up!**_

'Five minutes...'

_**You have a destiny to fulfil. Get up!**_

_**Get up...coward!**_

"I'm not a coward!" A bolt of anger flashed through her and Sakura's eyes snapped open to an unfamiliar and dark room. The sense of waking in a strange room filled her head and so she glanced around, seeking clues as to her whereabouts. Across from her was a couch that seemed familiar though.

She blinked in confusion, not knowing where she was or how she had gotten there. She went to move when a bolt of pain laced through her ribs causing her to draw a sharp breath. The pain flared even more at the attempt of breathing.

"What the..." Sakura hissed glancing down towards her chest where the pain was. "...hell?" A blade stuck out, blood still fresh and dripping off the blade. Judging by the position the blade had to have passed through her heart killing her almost instantly...yet she was alive. She could feel her heart beating, but something was off. Then she realised what it was. Her heartbeat was no longer coming from the left-hand side of her chest; it felt off to the right as if it had been moved to avoid the blade.

"Shit! Ino!" Sakura hissed suddenly remembering what had happened. This made the pain flare once more as the blade shifted and sent her into a violent coughing fit. There was a nasty wet rattling in one side of her chest and blood flowed into her mouth. Stars flashed before her eyes and all she could taste or smell was the metallic taste of blood. Every contraction of her chest muscles made a sharp bolt of pain lance across her left side. In her pain filled haze she realised the blade had to be removed if she had any chance of healing this.

Sakura clenched her teeth against the pain, even as she could feel her pierced lung wanting to expel the fluids collecting inside it. She could feel the blood she had already coughed up flowing down her chin, where it would then drip onto her top. She struggled to hold back the urge to cough and reached around slowly with her left arm until her fingers found the hilt of the sword that was embedded in her.

Sakura yet out a pained yelp as taking hold of the hilt shifted the blade. Tears welled up from the shear agony and she almost collapsed face first if not for placing her free hand palm down on the floor.

'I...I can't do this...' Sakura thought vision swimming in and out of focus.

_**So...you're just going to lie down and die like the pathetic, cowardly little girl you really are?**_

"Fuck...you!" Sakura hissed, red-hot rage engulfing her. She may be bleeding to death from a sword attack but there was no way she was taking being called a coward by the delirious voices inside her own head. Her fingers tightened around the blade's hilt painfully as she squeezed it with all her strength. With a roar between pain and anger Sakura yanked the blade out in one quick movement. She felt it slide out, even as it cut deeper into her flesh, but she ignored the fresh pain.

Raising the now freed blade before her face, she stared at it as it glistened with her blood in the darkness of the room. For a moment she remained dumbfounded, as if she didn't understand what she was doing holding the short sword covered in blood.

Sakura dropped the blade as she realised she still needed to stop the bleeding somehow. She placed her hand against the hole in her chest and attempted to gather chakra the way Tsunade-sensei had shown her, never mind the fact Sakura had never tried this before. Before she had even started to pull out her chakra she became aware of a warm, itchy sensation deep in her chest.

"What?" Sakura wondered aloud as the pain faded and she felt the damaged flesh knitting back together, severed muscle reconnected, and her lung sealed itself. Then there was a curious wet sliding sensation deep in her chest as her heart slid back into its original position. Her breathing rattled for a moment before the urge to cough returned in full force. She spent the next minute coughing up the remaining blood, leant forward and hands pressed against the floor to steady herself.

After what seemed an age the racking coughs subsided and she could draw her breath normally.

"What's happening to me?" Sakura muttered and wiped the back of her arm across her mouth. Or she tried to. Instead of wiping blood off her lower face, her forearm touched something smooth and hard.

"What is this?" she breathed, her voice wavered in fear.

Her hands reached up to touch her face almost of their own volition. Instead of touching skin her fingers found a smooth bonelike material. Nervously her fingers she traced the mask, at least she hoped it was a mask, but the sensation of feeling her own fingers touching the faintly warm material scared her. She felt around, her fingers seeking out the edge of the mask and touched skin and she felt her stomach sink.

"Noooo." Sakura exhaled feeling how the mask seemed to be burrowed into the flesh around her face. She traced a thick lump of the material that was under her skin and around the side of her head. The sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach increased as she gave an experimental tug at the mask and felt her entire head move as if it were welded on.

"This isn't happening." Sakura began repeating while she felt around the mask quicker. She found she could get her fingers underneath the mask around her chin. She let out a relieved breath at feeling her normal chin and lower lip, but the panic returned as from there on up the mask was stuck to her skin.

"No. No. No!" Sakura began to panic. She placed her fingers on the lower edge of the mask and tugged hard. Pain raced through her skull and she quickly ceased her attempt to remove the mask stuck to her head.

With her heart racing she climbed to her feet and nearly fell flat on her face as she almost tripped over her own toes. Glancing down she realised they stuck out beyond the edge of her sandals with the ankle brace. She wiggled them experimentally to check they were her own. Standing was uncomfortable and unbalancing with the way her toes would curl around the lip of her sandals. She felt another strangeness as it filtered into her consciousness, her dress and shorts felt tight.

The mask on her face forgotten for, for the moment, Sakura realised why her clothes were feeling restrictive. She was taller than she should be by a foot. She patted herself down, not truly believing what she was feeling. Strangely enough she felt a minor disappointment that not everything had grown larger at the same rate.

Sakura started to rub her temples in confusion but the sensation of touching the smooth mask again made her yank her hand away. She needed a mirror. Her head turned to the cabinet that stood nearby, if she remembered correctly it had a glass door. The glass would be the closest thing to a mirror she would find in this room and she might be able to at least make something out.

She moved over to the display cabinet, her feet complaining from being restricted by her sandals. She paused in front of it and stared at the glass. It was as she feared; a masked face stared back at her. However it was not the same skull-like shape she expected to see. No longer did it resemble a skull, now it looked almost the same as the one Haku had worn, if the one he had worn had been moulded and burrowed into his head. Narrow eye slits shaped to resemble an evil stare, glowered back at her. But most frightening was that behind the blackness of the slits, twin yellow orbs glowed with a sickly light.

"What...what's happened to me?" Sakura stuttered going numb as she was sure she heard a sadistic laugher echoing inside her skull. With each passing second that she stared at her reflection she felt anger at what had been done to her grow. Like a tornado it began slowly, building rapidly up to a raging crescendo or self loathing and fear.

She felt a rage unlike anything she'd ever felt before swell up. Her eyes flared brighter and she lashed out at her image. Her fist shattering the glass and continued on until it struck the back of the cabinet. The wooden back instantly gave way, her fist passed through it as if it were water before hitting the wall behind. The only reason her fist didn't pass through the wall as well was the fact she had reached the limit of her reach, leaving a dull dent from her knuckles.

Sakura ground out between clenched teeth. "Why?"

_**Destiny.**_

"I'm going crazy...I must be." Sakura stated ignoring the whisper and pulled her arm back. She hissed as the sharp glass sliced along the entire length of her forearm. Blood immediately began dripping from the wound, but even as she watched on the wound sealed up before her very own glowing eyes.

'I'm healing this fast?' Sakura thought in surprise and studied her arm in morbid curiosity. It suddenly struck how different her arm looked. The muscles stood out, not overly large for a female but bigger than they should have been. Rubbing the vanishing scar she probed at her new muscles with a finger tip. They had no give in them at all, not at all like flesh, almost like prodding at a lump of iron. She could see the veins under her skin pulsing with each powerful beat of her heart and as she flexed her fingers she could sense the raw animalistic power in her limbs as the muscles smoothly contracted underneath her skin. She also noticed her skin was a shade darker and touching it, it felt a slight bit thicker, tougher. Her nails had thickened too, almost becoming claw-like.

_**Your friend...remember.**_

"Ino..." Sakura turned to face the wall where she had last seen her friend. She walked over uncomfortably, her feet hurting. Hissing in annoyance she ceased walking and reached down to pull the straps free. With a sigh of relief she kicked them off and flexed her toes feeling a great sense of freedom. Quickly she crossed the rest of the distance and crouched down, searching for anything to give her a clue as to what had happened to Ino.

Then she saw it, Ino's hitai-ate lay discarded on the floor. Sakura picked it up and examined it. It was torn.

"Ino...I'll find you." Sakura promised with a growl as she tightening her grip on the cloth section. The rage she kept feeling bubbled up again. She promised if they she had been hurt she'd kill the ones responsible.

_**Yeeeeessss, kill, crush, destroy.**_

Her hearing picked out a creak further down the hallway and light footsteps. Her hearing seemed vastly improved as she was certain she shouldn't be able to pick them out beneath the noise of the rain outside.

Sakura rose smoothly to her feet, turning to face the doorway as she did, her movements catlike. She backed away into the furthest shadows of the room, picking up the bloodied sword as she passed and waited. She seethed silently in the darkness and listened out as the footsteps paused outside the room. Her grip tightened on the blade that had once impaled her in anticipation.

The door was pushed open and the eyeless and bloodied visage of the injured ANBU entered the room.

She almost attacked the instant she saw him enter the room, but resisted the urge. The former ANBU paused before the desk. Sakura wondered if he could somehow see still as he moved his head around as if seeking something. Finally it turned back to the desk and faced down, looking in the direction it expect Sakura's body to be.

It looked confused.

Sakura's lips curled into a vicious smirk and she moved out of the shadows and approached as stealthy as a cat hunting. She raised the sword and then exploded forward. She thrust the sword through the former ANBU exactly as it had done to her. Its head jerked back in surprise.

"Payback's a bitch!" Sakura grinned evilly feeling extremely pleased. She pushed forward and upwards with her arms, lifting the now thrashing body easily off the floor. She marvelled for a moment at how light he was while she held onto the blade. "And her name's Sakura!"

Sakura twisted the blade violently and was rewarded with a gurgle that might have been a scream. She let go of the weapon and smirked under the mask, expecting the body to hit the floor.

_**Watch out!**_

Sakura barely had time to blink as the ANBU landed on his feet and spun around, seemingly unaffected by the blade sticking from his chest and threw a barrage of kunai at her. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw the thrown weapons approaching at high speed.

Despite the speed they were thrown at, she found it easy to track them. With her newly jacked up reactions she dodged the first kunai with a simple lean of her head to the left and caught the second one out of the air. Raising her other arm she blocked the last one from hitting her chest. The kunai dug deeply into her left arm, she barely felt the pain in her excitement.

The former ANBU had by this time crossed the distance between them and lashed out with a vicious looking combat knife he had pulled from one of his hidden pockets. Sakura blocked the first slash with the kunai she had caught with her right hand. The sound of metal hitting metal rang out and a spark flashed in the darkness from the force of the blow.

'For something that couldn't see he seems to be doing fine' Sakura thought as she was forced to lean backwards out of the way as the ANBU feinted left and then took a slashed at her throat.

The former ANBU definitely had the edge in skill as he forced Sakura backwards. Even with her sped up reactions courtesy of the mask, she struggled to block or deflect the blows. All too soon she found her back slamming into the far wall. She desperately thrust the kunai at the ANBU's forehead. Somehow he dodged the almost point-blank attack and slashed his combat knife across Sakura's overextended arm.

Sakura hissed in frustration as the tendons in her forearm were severed and her fingers lost their hold on the kunai, which bounced harmlessly off the floor.

"Shit!" Sakura exclaimed watching the knife rushing at her, even as she felt the tendons in her arms snap back into position and reconnect. The ANBU slammed the blade deep into her abdomen. Sakura shrieked in more surprise than pain as he twisted the blade. She saw his body tense in slow motion as he prepared to rip the knife and probably a good chunk of her intestines out to the side.

Sakura's eyes flared as a burst of power flowed into her. Insanely fast she pulled the kunai out of her left arm and slammed it upwards, into the unprotected jaw of the ANBU. The weapon punched through the soft flesh under his jaw and into his skull instantly. Sakura kept the momentum going and lifted the former ANBU off the ground single handedly. The force of the blow snapped his neck with a sickening crack and threatened to tear his head completely off before Sakura let go of the kunai and it and the ANBU it was attached to were launched into the air. The body flew upwards until its head impacted with the ceiling with a wet splat, before gravity took over and it crashed to floor. The ANBU's arms and legs thrashed about for a moment before he realised he was dead and ceased moving.

Sakura breathed deeply as she leant against the wall. That had been far too close for her liking. So much for being turning into something invincible, she'd have to be more careful next time. She checked her arm that had been sliced and as before it was as if nothing had happened to it. Her healing rate was through the roof! But hadn't Tsunade-sensei stated such accelerated healing would burn out her cells quicker?

The feeling of something leaking made her forget her thoughts on cellular division and rapid aging. She looked down to spot the combat knife. It was still buried up to the handle in her stomach.

"Ow!" She hissed giving it an experimental tug.

'Oh hell, this is gonna hurt.' She thought. 'I hope this healing stuff isn't a fluke...'

Steeling herself for a second she quickly yanked the knife out and bit down to prevent the roar of pain she so wanted to let out. She tasted blood having bitten into her tongue. Shortly she felt the pain fade away as the damage healed rapidly.

"Handy...very handy." Sakura gave a feral grin under the mask, not that anyone could see it. She glanced at the body. "So now what Sakura?" she asked herself.

The body twitched. Her eyes instantly narrowed. The body's head jerked to the side.

"Oh you're kidding me?" Sakura growled taking a step forward. She flipped the combat knife into the air and caught it, held ready to plunge it into the ANBU's chest. She dropped down and attacked. The body bucked as she slammed the knife into the centre of its chest, the force of the impact plunged it right through the breastbone. A spurt of blood hit her mask.

"Just stay dead." She spat.

The body's head began thrashing from side to side. Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. In frustration she straddled the ANBU and with both hands began to choke him. She felt his windpipe collapse under her thumbs, but still the head was still shaking from side to side, albeit restrictedly.

"Why won't you die?" Sakura hissed applying more pressure. Blood began to flow easily from the empty eye sockets and nose. She pulled back, lifting his head off the floor and then slammed it down ferociously. She repeated the movement once more.

"Huh?" Sakura stated in confusion as the sound of bone cracking filled the air. She looked on curiously as the skull of the ANBU budged outwards before exploding out at her in a fountain of blood, brain matter and other gore. She instinctively flinched back as something shrieked and slammed into her shoulder.

The next thing she knew was feeling as if hundreds of razor sharp, serrated teeth were chewing through her shoulder. She grabbed at the area and her fingers closed over a slimly, thrashing something or other.

"What! The! Hell!" Sakura hissed trying to pull the wormlike thing off her. The slimly body slipped from her fingers and she had to clench her teeth once more as it disappeared into her flesh. "Shit!" she swore as she felt the thing chewing through her body. Absently she realised what the weird wound had been on the ANBU when she had examined him earlier was. As if in slow motion she could see the worm burrowing its way towards her neck underneath her skin.

_**Use the knife! Stop it!**_

Sakura did as suggested. Not even thinking about it she tore the combat knife from the body and slammed it into her own shoulder. She cried out in pain but hearing the high-pitched shriek of the worm made her smile through it.

"Take this freak!" she hissed twisting the knife and grinned as she felt the alien movements beneath her flesh cease, even as crimson blood oozed from the self-inflicted wound.

Breathing heavily she just sat there on the corpse and wondered what the hell was actually going on.

x X x

"Sakura!" Ino screamed in horror as she watched as her friend was impaled. One second she had been standing there, the next a blade burst from her chest. Before Ino had even begun to react, Sakura's attacker had rounded on her. She didn't even see the backhanded blow that landed on her face, though she felt it.

Her training took over, rolling her head to try to soften the blow even as she was in the beginnings of a backwards leap. Even so, the blow hurt and she was sent careening backwards and dropping her flashlight at the same time. She hit the wall behind her with a loud thud, her head being the first making her teeth rattle. For a disorienting moment all she could see was white. The next thing she knew, she was laid slumped against the wall, stars blinking before her eyes and feeling nauseous.

She sensed more than saw the ANBU rushing towards her, his face a twisted picture of hate and loathing. Ino reacted on instinct more than training, lashing a foot towards her aggressor. Her attack actually connected slamming into his jaw, knocking his head upwards and she took great satisfaction in hearing his teeth clack together loudly.

The disfigured ANBU stumbled backwards as if drunk, the blow seemed to daze him far more than Ino had expected but she had no time to ponder why. As quick as she could while woozy herself she went into a crouch, tensing her legs ready to spring.

With a primal roar Ino launched herself at the ANBU. She put everything she had into the flying kick she went into. The ANBU didn't have time to even react as she slammed her foot into his face. For a moment, Ino felt as if she were suspended in the air as she came to a halt, before the ANBU was thrown backwards from the blow.

She landed in a crouch as he half flew, half stumbled backwards out the doorway into the hall outside before coming to a painful halt as he hit the far wall. Ino may not be a patch on Rock Lee but a blow like that should have at least stunned the eyeless freak.

Not letting him have a chance to gather any of his wits, Ino launched three kunai as fast as she could. The first two hit his legs, one in each thigh as insurance. The third struck him in the left eye-socket. He slid down the wall, legs splayed out before him and once on the ground slumped over, dead.

Ino breathed heavily, the adrenalin rush slowly fading and the feeling of her tenderised cheek and bruised skull returned all too soon. She hissed as she fingering the lump on the back of her head that promised to grow into an egg sized bump.

"Sakura!" Ino remembered realising this was no time to be worried about lumps on her head. She turned around and stepped over to Sakura. She was laid on her side where she had fallen. A slowly enlarging pool of blood grew around the pink-haired girl's corpse. Ino's flashlight shone in their direction from where it had landed, illuminating the scene.

"Oh god no..." Ino breathed, fearfully realising Sakura was gone, and even if she wasn't dead yet she would soon be without a medic-nin to give her immediate attention. As Sakura was the (trainee) medic-nin, Ino didn't believe that was going to happen.

Ino dropped to her knees and placed her hands gently on Sakura's shoulder, she could see the surprised expression was still on the other girl's face, her eyes staring off into the distance, lifelessly. Ino was numb, only feeling a shocked detachment to the recent events, the grief was there but at the moment shock was the greatest emotion.

In the hallway the disfigured ANBU's head rose slowly and jerkily like that of a poorly operated puppet, despite the kunai stuck in his eye socket. He reached up and gripped the offending weapon and with a tug and small spurt of blood that dribbled down his ruined cheek, removed it.

He then placed it on the ground before repeating the same for the two in his legs, then, silently climbed back to his feet seemingly none the worse for wear. His head lulled from side to side for a moment before straightening and the hateful expression returned as he bared his teeth. He began to menacingly approach the unsuspecting Ino.

Ino's mourning was cut short as a chilling premonition ran up the length of her spine the moment that the floorboards just behind her creaked ominously from the weight of someone standing on them. She froze, sensing a presence behind her and slowly began reaching for another kunai, praying she could get hold of it before something happened.

A handful of her blonde tresses were grabbed and yanked at, tugging her head backwards. She shrieked in pain as she found herself dragged to her feet by the roots of her hair. For a moment she could see her death, her exposed throat was going to be slashed and that was enough to spur her into action. Ino's hand went for her weapons pouch as she spun around to face her attacker, twisting her hair tighter and more painfully.

Ino eyes went wide with fear at the sight before her. The ANBU who had taken a kunai to the face was standing there snarling down at her as if nothing had happened. Even without eyes she could feel the menace being directed towards her.

Ino's hand flashed for her weapons but was too slow as the ANBU caught her wrist and gave it a vicious yank and added a twist to make sure, eliciting a pained yelp from her. Before she could react he slammed a knee into her gut, doubling her over and forcing the air from her lungs. Ino struggled to breathe, tears streaming from her eyes from the pain and blurring her vision as the ANBU held her.

Her hand was dropped and she suddenly found herself hoisted into the air painfully by the handful of hair the ANBU had hold of. Unable to even hiss in pain, Ino's hands wrapped around his arm to try and relieve the pain in her scalp.

The ANBU's free hands ripped her weapon pouch off. He then tore her hitai-ate off and felt around for other weapons. He paused and pulled a hidden kunai stashed down the side of her shorts free and flung it away.

"B...tard..." Ino hissed between gulps of air and attempted to kick him in the groin. He took the blow with no sign of feeling it. With snake-like speed his free hand snapped out and gripped her chin painfully, dirty, bloodied fingers digging into her cheeks.

He leaned in close, giving Ino an unwelcome close-up of his disfigured face. His breath smelled foul. Her head was forcibly moved left, then right before he seemed satisfied and dropped her to her feet. Ino stumbled from the sudden movement, but was unable to fall with him still gripping her hair in his vice-like grip.

The ANBU grunted animalistically and shoved her shoulder, before gripping it tightly. Ino struggled but he was far too strong for her to resist as he made her walk out the room. Neither one noticed that the mask on the desk began to wobble.

Ino was forcibly made to walk back along the corridor the way she and Sakura had originally entered. She let herself be moved along as she concentrated on regaining her breath and looking for a way to escape his grip.

'After this, I'm cutting my hair...' Ino promised. That was if she had any hair left after being manhandled so. As they approached the door that led back to the balcony, the wooden door opened by itself with a creak, much to Ino's disconcertion.

'Haunted...it's really haunted.' She swallowed.

Ino was forced out onto the balcony and towards the stairwell. She had an idea. Every footstep took her closer to what may be her only chance of escape. She needed to time this right.

As her feet came to the top step, she dropped forward, sending her legs between the ANBU's, hoping to knock him off balance. She only needed a few seconds to be free and she could escape. It didn't happen as she wanted, the former ANBU did not let go of her, but he did trip. He crashed into her back and the pair tumbled down the short flight of stairs.

Ino yelled in fresh pain as she was bounced off the hard stairs before they both crashed to the lower level in a painful heap. She felt fresh bruises and scrapes all over. She also seemed to have managed to crack her elbow on the way down and it was totally numb.

Fighting back the pain she rolled free of the ANBU, she had to escape and inform someone. Ino scrabbled on all fours as best as she could to get away from the ANBU. She risked a glance over her shoulder as she approached the stairs that led down to the entrance hall. Even in the low light she managed to make out his unmoving form. Had a tumble down the stairs finally killed the monster?

Ino's sickly grin at the situation fell from her face halfway down the main stairs.

"Oh crap..." she stated at the sight of four other ANBU standing at the bottom of the stairway. They all stood the same way, swaying slightly as if they were drunk but trying to hide it. Their white masks stared impassively up at her and she instinctively knew they were just like Sakura's killer. As one they began to approach.

Ino backed away, slowly backing up the stairs trying to watch all four at the same time. Her progress came to an abrupt halt as she backed into something, something she had a terrible feeling she knew what it was. She turned her head slowly and looked up. The eyeless ANBU loomed over her ominously. He pulled his fist back.

"Errr...sorry?" Ino tried lamely seconds before her world went dark.

x X x

"Just what is going on here?" Sakura growled as she stared at the remains below her. It had to be some kind of parasite that entered a person's brain and messed them up. At least that's what she assumed staring at the outwardly exploded remains of the ANBU's skull.

She turned her eyes to stare at the knife embedded in her left shoulder. It needed to come out, along with the worm thing. She took hold of the handle of the combat knife and gently pulled at it. She hissed through clenched teeth as the blade slowly slid out, fresh blood leaked out. She noted with worry that some green ooze was mixed in with her blood that came out and hoped for her sake that thing had not been poisonous or worse, the wound was infected from it.

Sakura took a moment to gather her will. She had to get that thing out.

Forcing herself to calm down, she tried to detach herself from the situation as Tsunade-sensei had shown her. She wondered whether it actually worked as well if you were about to do DIY surgery upon yourself with a combat knife.

Taking a calming breath she slow pressed the tip into the skin above the cut, she expected to have to remove quite a chunk to get it all out.

"Now or never..." Sakura stated and pushed the blade in. It stung but surprisingly she found herself barely bothered by the fresh pain. She calmly and carefully began dragging the knife along making a deep incision. Fresh blood flowed freely as she grunted as she caught something that hurt.

Forcing herself to stay focused Sakura proceeded to carve an oval out of her own flesh and wished in the back of her mind that Tsunade-sensei had taught her the chakra knife techniques. They were a lot finer than a combat knife and wouldn't hurt as much. Once done, Sakura carefully removed the blade and jabbed it into the floor beside her, before in a display of Rambo-like proportions, pushed her fingers into the fresh hole she had prepared.

She grimaced.

With each movement of her fingers as she poked around painfully searching for the worm thing, fresh blood would leak out. Her fingers eventually found something that she couldn't feel pain from and dug in deeper, hissing all the time before closing her fingers around the foreign body.

Sakura leaned her masked face back and stared up at the ceiling bracing herself. Now or never. With a bellow of agony she pulled. The dead worm came out with a wet sucking sound along with a chunk of her own skin and muscle. White-hot pain blossomed in her shoulder as the sickening sound of tearing flesh was heard.

_**An adequate display.**_

Sakura breathed deeply and turned her head back to her shoulder as the pain faded to a dull throb. She watched in wonderment as the removed muscle grew back, veins seemed to flow into position before finally the skin knit back together leaving not a trace of damage, not even a scar. Only her blood stained dress showed she had been hurt at all. She rolled her shoulder experimentally and marvelled at how amazingly pain free it was.

Sakura then turned her attention her bloodied hand, still holding the removed worm. She unfurled her fingers slowly, watching on with the curiosity of someone staring at a train wreck. Not quite wanting to see what was there but unable to stop herself.

"What are you?" Sakura stated in disgust while poking at the jaw of the thing. It was larger than she had expected, especially as it had burrowed into the ANBU's skull. No eyes or anything else distinguished it from a worm aside from it having a fully working set of jaws. Its skin seemed translucent, only the muscle easily visible underneath gave it its dark red colouration. Various dark black veins covered the skin. As she opened the thing's jaws she took note of the viciously evil looking teeth the thing had, no wonder it had hurt.

Having examined the thing enough for Sakura's liking she clenched her fist. The worm was crushed instantly with a wet squelch as it turned into ooze that leaked from between her fingers. She then wiped her hand on the dead ANBU's combat vest, pulled the combat knife out the floor and stood up to her new full height.

"I've got to find her." Sakura stated in fear for her friend's safety. She had the image of Ino being infected with the same parasite playing in her head over and over. Feeling a sense of urgency Sakura promised she wouldn't let that happen.

Sakura stepped out the room and into the corridor.

'Which way?' she wondered glancing up then down the empty corridor. Ino could have been dragged in any direction. Sakura wished she knew how long she had been 'unconscious'. Her mind kind of refused to accept the thought she had been dead, people just didn't come back to life now did they? And she refused to entertain the thought that she had become a zombie. Besides, zombies didn't feel pain did they?

_**It's become aware of us. Be careful...**_

"Huh?" Sakura suddenly shivered as a feeling of dread passed through her. Sakura narrowed her eyes in thought as he finally realised that the voice did not seem to be her imagination after all.

She was about to ask who it was when the floor bucked underneath her feet.

"Earthquake?" Sakura blinked as dust and loose plaster feel from above her. With a groan that sounded like a wild animal waking, the house shuddered. Sakura was forced to fight for her balance as the floor bucked and lulled, like a boat on a rough sea.

Then as suddenly as it began it stopped. Sakura raised her eyes warily.

_**It comes!**_

"What comes?" Sakura growled.

That was when she heard it. At first she thought it was just the wind, but something about the noise sounded off, almost like a voice or voices howling. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled as it grew closer, along with a rhythmic banging that was coming closer. The howling noise grew.

Sakura's attention was drawn to the windows to her side as they started to vibrate in their frames, rattling loose old dirt and dust. The door at the far end that led back to the balcony began to rattle in its frame too. Then it flexed inwards as a wind as cold as the void of space blew past her, stirring dust.

The door suddenly exploded inwards and the howling became frightfully clear. Seeing the door flying right at her Sakura crossed her arms in front of her face. The thick oak door slammed into her with enough force to send her sliding backwards down the hallway.

Sakura halted her backwards slide and braced her legs even as the door shook with vicious impacts as something brutal slammed and scratched at it. All the time the howling grew louder and more vicious, her dress whipped around wildly from the unnatural wind. Sakura grunted with effort as she felt herself being pushed back. Her instincts screamed at her that she was facing pure evilness and the only thing preventing her being torn to pieces was her makeshift shield.

She heard the sound of splintering wood and looked up in time to see a chunk of the door disappear as it was swept away. The howling became more intense at the small victory.

Crack.

Another chunk vanished.

"Crap!" Sakura swore as she was forced back. This wasn't going well.

Another sliver vanished.

Sakura felt something cut into her shoulder. She risked a glance to see a lump of skin had been sliced clean off. The howling rose to a deafening crescendo as if it smelled the blood. The thumps on the door grew more powerful shaking her arms.

'I can't stay here!' Sakura thought racking her brain for a way out as piece by piece the door began to shrink. She struggled to the stay on her feet as she slowly backed away from the vicious winds. Small nicks began appearing around her legs and arms that stun like paper cuts.

Sakura turned her head around desperately seeking anything. That tiniest moment was all the entity needed. It reared back and lashed forward.

The door shattered. Sakura felt the bones in her arms splinter from the force of the blow and she was launched down the hallway. She hit the ground and tumbled over and over until slamming into the door at the far end. The door held for all of a second before it exploded into pieces and Sakura bounced and crashed into the room beyond. She scrapped painfully along the floor before coming to a halt in a broken heap.

Sakura let out a pained groan, every inch of her felt battered and bruised as she tried to gather her wits. She felt the shattered bones float around unnaturally under her flesh before snapping back together, she groaned again. She struggled to raise her head as the howling rushed towards her.

'I can't move...'

_**Stand!**_

'I can't...its too strong.'

_**I won't let you die! Let our rage be your power!**_

A burst of red-hot rage roared through Sakura sending her blood boiling like lava. The pain was horrendous, she felt like she was being boiled alive. Her heart pounded in her chest as she grinded her teeth against the agony. It hurt so much that Sakura found herself wanting, needing to lash out at something. At anything. The rage grew, feeding off the pain and in turn causing more pain. Her wounds healed almost instantly, steam rising from the heat generated from the speeded up regeneration.

She climbed to her feet slowly, growling like an animal. Her glowing eyes seemed to burn like fire deep behind the mask, the ethereal energy flickered upwards out of the sockets. As she stood, more of the energy began to waft off of her shoulders her in a yellow steam.

_**Destroy our enemy!**_

Sakura finally saw it. Her invisible attacker. Her enemy.

Hundreds of ghostly apparitions floated within a cloud, never still. Twisted faces would float in the air, some looking in pain, others insane and still more raging. Razor sharp ethereal claws reached out from the cloud, lashing out at anything nearby. As Sakura watched on the cloud paused and all the shapes slowly solidified into a single large face, it was as large as the room was tall. A look of pure loathing was directed at her.

"You!" the monstrous face snarled in a language so twisted that Sakura's ears refused to hear it, yet she heard the words correctly inside her head. "You will not stop my coming!"

She paid the words no attention, her world of rage was just focused on one thing, total annihilation of the thing before her. She pulled her fist back as it began to glow with power; her skin seemed to become transparent around the energy, making her glowing hand look like it had x-rayed on a yellow background.

With a primal roar Sakura charged the apparition. She must have caught it by surprise as its expression changed from hatred to shock the instance her glowing fist slammed into one of its massive eyeballs which burst like a slime filled water balloon. She passed through it as it let out a shriek like that of a thousand voices crying out in pain as the entity lost cohesion and evaporated.

Sakura landed in a feral crouch and held that position a moment before unfolding smoothly as she stood up straight. Her shoulders began to shake as she chuckled deep in her chest, letting herself be consumed by the intoxicating power, pain and rage.

_**You are mine forever.**_

x X x

Ino awoke slowly to aches and pains all over. She wondered groggily why she hurt so much before her memories of recent events popped to the forefront of her mind. She sat up and rubbed at her aching jaw, feeling another bruise she could add to the sizable collection she had gained this night.

Where was she?

Wherever it was it was pitch black. She could not see anything and when she drew a breath she felt that may be for the best. The air was rank with the smell of blood, sweat and other bodily fluids. She heard something that sounded like a heart beat. An extremely large heart beat.

Ino flinched and clamped her hands over her mouth to prevent the scream she wanted to let loose when something slimly brushed past her shoulder, leaving a cold and sticky smear on it. Ino grimaced and scooted away as quietly as she could.

As she backed up, her hand pressed against something warm and sticky, it throbbed with a pulse. She pulled her hand away as if burnt and wiped the wetness on her top.

"Gross."

As she spoke there was a groan of pain nearby and she sensed something large moved towards her. She froze and tried to resist the urge to gag as cold, rotten breath washed over her. She stayed perfectly still, hoping against hope that whatever it was it would leave her alone. She heard a sound like when someone pops their knuckles, except it went on longer. The presence before her seemed to emanate an aura of malevolence that was beyond mere killing intent.

A voice spoke. At least she thought it was a voice. Words in an alien dialect hissed, clacked and rumbled in the darkness before her. Not knowing what else to do she remained still.

The voice snarled as something lunged towards her face. Ino could sense that whatever it was, was practically nose to nose to her. It spoke again, the same strange words repeated, this time aggressively.

"I...I don't understand what you're saying!" Ino cried out. She waited in fear for her life while she felt as if she were being examined curiously. Seconds seemed to drag on for minutes as she waited in the lightless hole. Suddenly, the thing gave an evil sound, half between a chuckle and a hiss and withdrew.

Ino's body was frozen and even if she could, she dared not move. Whatever that thing was she had no intention of pissing it off. It felt completely alien, hideous, an aberration.

"Do not worry, child. You are safe from it...for now." A kindly, but ill sounding male voice stated nearby.

"What?" Ino whipped her head towards the voice. "Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?"

"You...have many questions." The man stated. "I am Professor Nishi. You're in the sacrificial pit. The end of the world I'm afraid."

"Wait...sacrificial pit? End of the world?" Ino asked.

"I'm afraid so. What fools we were. The warnings were clear but we ignored them." The professor rambled sadly.

Ino frowned as she thought back to the scroll.

"You're one of the archaeologists right?" she asked. "Did you write the report?"

"Was, I'm afraid." He stated with a dour chuckle. "You found my report? Too late. Too late."

"What happened here? What is 'it'?" Ino asked, keeping the only other person down here talking to take her mind off the fact there was something large and evil watching from nearby.

"We would call it a demon, although technically it is something far worse than the nine tailed beasts that have that label in this world."

"This...world?"

"Indeed. It, the nameless one, the darkness, elder god, the evil one, all names to describe the fear of the creatures that inhabit the world between worlds. It has existed long before man had even crawled out of the oceans, long before time. At least that's what I've learned, whether it's the truth is another matter." The professor laughed before bursting into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked moving towards his voice.

"Stay back!" he hissed, his friendly voice turning icy. Ino was so surprised she backed away. "I'm...sorry. My condition is not something you wish to touch or see. Be glad it is dark." He explained sadly, seemingly to regret his outburst.

"Okay...How do we stop it?" Ino asked.

"Stop it?" the professor laughed. "I doubt even the greatest living Fuuinjutsu masters could put this genie back in its bottle. The warding stone it was sealed in was created long ago with techniques we can't imagine."

"What of that mask? You said in your report that it was a ward...?" Ino asked.

"I was wrong. The mask...the mask is...it was created through the sacrifice of hundreds maybe thousands of souls, it is as evil as the thing it was created to hold. The mask holds the hatred of those killed to create it. Somehow the mask slowly drained the nameless one's power, keeping it weak enough for the ward to hold. Removing the mask freed it, placing it back now is like pouring a glass of water on a forest fire. It might have worked when the fire was merely a smouldering twig."

They both feel silent, lost to their own thoughts.

"Nishi-sensei?" Ino asked tentatively. "You said it won't hurt me?"

"I did."

"Why?" Ino asked confused.

"Because it needs you child." He replied. "You have something none of us had and it needs it."

"What? What do I have?" Ino questioned curiously.

"What is your name?" the professor asked, his own voice was curious now.

"Yamanaka Ino. Why?"

"Yamanaka?" the professor laughed as if it was the funniest joke in the world. "Of all the families in Konoha...It all makes sense."

"What makes sense? Why's it so funny?" Ino demanded glaring in his voice's direction.

"Don't you see? The reason your family's secret techniques are exactly that. The stone is activated psychically. It needs you to free it by activating the stone."

"Free it! Like hell I will!" Ino growled.

"You say that like you have a choice."

"I won't do it." Ino stated firmly.

"Brave words, but when it does not require your mind, just your power...it has ways of controlling people." The professor stated ominously.

"Then...then I'll kill myself to stop it."

Any reply the professor would have giving was cut short as the demonic entity suddenly roared in anger. Ino screamed and covered her ears as the whole pit shook and she felt its terrifying rage. The shaking continued and grew stronger before ceasing.

"What...what was that?" Ino finally asked once the pit returned to silence.

"I...Kami-sama...somebody hurt it?" Ino heard the Professor stated in awe.

x X x

Asuma shook the excess water out of his hair as he stood upon the porch to his home. The rain hadn't let up since sunset, over two hours ago and he had had to walk all the way from the barbeque place in it to get home. He pulled his keys out and began to unlock the front door.

"Asuma!" a male voice called out, causing him to turn around. He saw Yamanaka Inoichi rushing over.

"Something up?" Asuma asked noting the slightly worried look on the damp elder Yamanaka's face.

"Wasn't Ino with you?" Inoichi queried taking shelter under Asuma's porch and rubbing his cold hands.

"No, she skipped the barbecue to tag along on a quick mission with Sakura."

"Oh." Inoichi sighed in relief. "She should have let me know. When she gets back her mother will be giving her an earful."

"Hmm?" Asuma raised a curious eyebrow. "You mean she's not back yet?"

"No. Do you know where they went?"

"They only went up to the old Hattori ruins." Asuma frowned. "Shouldn't have taken them much more than an hour and that was before sunset."

"They only went to the Hattori ruins?"

"Far as I know." Asuma stated, an uncomfortable premonition settling in his gut as he remembered that Fudo guy talking about getting ANBU guards. Inoichi must have seen his expression shift.

"Is something wrong?"

"I hope not." Asuma stated. "I need to check something out."

x X x

"What do you mean they haven't reported in?" Asuma leaned over the desk as he addressed one of the ANBU captains. His size made the move seem more threatening than it actually was.

"They haven't sent a report since about this time yesterday." The guy explained. "We would give them till early tomorrow and then investigate if we heard nothing."

Asuma exchanged a now worried look with Inoichi. "We need to check with the Hokage."

x X x

Tsunade had a sour expression on her face when Asuma and Inoichi entered the office, most likely down to the piles of paperwork she was struggling through.

"Is there a problem?" Tsunade asked sitting up straight as Shizune closed the door behind them.

"I hope not." Asuma began. "Did Sakura return from her mission?"

"No she has not."Tsunade leaned forward placing her elbows on the desk. "How did you know about it may I ask?"

"We, my team," Asuma clarified. "Bumped into her on the way. She seemed a little..."

"Depressed." Tsunade guessed.

"You could say that." Asuma shrugged. "Ino decided to tag along with her. Neither has returned."

Tsunade's eyes had narrowed at that news.

"Also, when we checked with the ANBU on a hunch, the team sent to those ruins has not reported in yet. Putting two and two together doesn't bode well." Asuma stated. "I get the feeling something has happened."

Tsunade took a careful breath mulling over the information before she replied.

"There could be a simple explanation for them not getting back yet. They may have decided to wait out the storm in the building. Or something may have happened." She pursed her lips. "However, either way it would be a good idea to check up on them. Head there immediately. If there's trouble I trust the two of you can deal with it."

"Understood." Asuma nodded.

x X x

Sakura grinned under the mask. The power, it felt too good. She had so much power she felt as if she could take on an army of Orochimarus at that moment. Despite the red-hot pain, she couldn't help but revel in the intoxicating power of her rage. And yet, this rage was not the blinding type of berserker rage she had witnessed Naruto capable of. No, this was a rage that had slowly simmered for hundreds of years alone in the dark, plotting for vengeance. A rage that had gone beyond mere anger and into another level, allowing her a crystal clear clarity of thought as it seethed under her skin like a violent sea of heat, yet remained as a passive power source.

"So was that all you had?" Sakura laughed. "Is that it?"

The house groaned and shook.

"Come on!" she challenged. "Do your worst!"

The floor bucked underneath her feet but she was not dislodged, nor did she lose her balance as she had anchored her feet to the floorboards with her chakra. Her chakra had always been easy for her to use but now it was like she didn't have to even think about it.

The old paint on the walls seemed to grow older before her eyes as bits flaked off in great clumps and seemed to turn into dust before it could even float away. The plaster underneath suddenly bulged in many places at the same time, and as if there were snakes crawling in the wall, the plaster bucked outwards and shattered off the walls as lumps flesh and what appeared to be veins or arteries grew over the walls. Misshapen lumps of flesh grew up out of the cracks near the walls as the house howled like a living entity.

The mask was laughing.

_**And so it begins. **_

"The house is alive?" Sakura wondered as she studied the throbbing veins upon the walls. She prodded the nearest lump with a claw-like nail.

_**Its anger blinds it and it makes itself vulnerable to us as it binds itself to this building to attack us.**_

"The house is the key?" Sakura pondered reaching up with her chakra and with the medical examination technique used it on the veined wall before her. She wasn't surprised when she felt the wall was alive, not a natural life but still alive. Her glowing eyes narrowed. "So...it has become the house?"

_**Yes! As we can't reach its brain in the other realm...but we can go for its heart...**_

"Destroy this house and it dies." Sakura grinned. Oh whatever this entity was it had just made a fatal mistake, she was going to enjoy herself.

_**Exactly as planned...**_

While she was examining the wall she sensed killing intent being levelled at her. Hearing the almost inaudible whistle of thrown kunai she casually raised her left arm and blocked them with it. Three kunai pierced her flesh, digging right down to the bone instead and hitting her head.

"Finally." Sakura stated, menace dripping from her voice as she turned to face her newest attackers. Four ANBU stood weapons drawn and directing hate towards her. Each had a different mask, rat, dog, cat and fox. With nary a thought see flexed her arm. The three kunai embedded in it popped out and clattered to the floor as the wounds healed, forcing them out.

Sakura's eyes burned in excitement as she raised her a-moment-ago injured hand in a bring-it-on gesture. The ANBU's attacked, rat and dog leaping towards while cat and fox rushed to either side attempting to box her in. Sakura grinned and launched herself into the air right at rat, the floorboards behind her cracked and bled from the power of her leap.

Kunai were launched from all four. Sakura ignored them as they peppered her with the thrown weapons, they were a minor annoyance, nothing she needed to concern herself with. She crossed her arms, blocking the ones aimed at her face.

The met in midair.

Dog slashed with his sword catching her across the side of her ribcage. She grunted but ignored him, concentrating on taking them down one at a time. Rat tried the same tactic but she was ready. Her hand lashed out and caught his forearm as he slashed and pulled him towards her. They impacted together and rolled in the air as they fell. Sakura squeezed the captured arm and was rewarded with the sound of bones snapping as her fingers closed like a pneumatic press.

Sakura manoeuvred rat underneath her and pulled her knees up. While they grappled, the many kunai Sakura had taken popped out of her. Rat hit the floor with a thud closely followed by two knees to the gut. Around them, kunai that had moments before been embedded in the pink-haired brute rained down, clattering off the floor. Sakura rolled off him, keeping her grip on his crushed arm and was back on her feet dragging rat with her.

Rat didn't like being dragged and with what should have been a painful move, flipped to his feet. His broken arm was twisted tight, the skin wrapping up like a wet rolled up towel. He threw a finger strike towards Sakura's throat.

She easily caught rat's attack with her other hand and snapped his fingers back. She grinned evilly, eyes flashing she yanked him towards her, landing a vicious head-butt. Mask met mask. Only one gave way, a white rat-shaped porcelain mask shattered revealing another eyeless visage; blood spurted from a shattered nose.

Sakura let go of the broken arm letting it flop loosely to the side and grabbed the former ANBU's head. Before he had chance to react, she had yanked him off his feet, let go of his other arm and slammed him face first into the floor. She grinned at hearing the crack of bone on wood. Sakura pulled her fist back and with all her strength slammed it into the ANBU's head.

His skull exploded like an over-ripe melon as it was embedded into the floorboards that shattered under impact, forming an impact crater with the now headless body at the blood stained ground zero.

Sakura stood up and flicked the gore from her fist while she checked where the remaining opponents were. The three had paused where they had landed and seemed to be plotting wordlessly how to take her down.

"Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Sakura mocked arms folded.

The remaining corrupted ANBU's once again threw another unless barrage of kunai. Sakura shook her head disappointedly as she let them land in her flesh.

"Useless." Sakura derided their attempt, especially amusing were the ones that missed and landed in a circle...wait a minute! Her eyes widen in surprise at the ones embedded in the floor around her as they hissed and had little paper tags attached. She glanced at the kunai stuck in her.

"Oh Shi..."

Her world went white and her ears numb as she was slammed about. When Sakura came to mere seconds later she found herself staring up at a hole in the ceiling and her ears ringing. Pain blossomed all over. She coughed. Tasting blood she went to touch the sore burning hole she felt in her side. Nothing happened.

Her head rolled to the right and saw why. Her whole right arm was missing from the shoulder downwards, blown clean off. She pulled her left hand out of the rubble she was half buried in and flexed it experimentally, there were a couple of chunks of flesh missing but it moved fine.

"Idiot!" she cursed herself. She'd been acting like...well Naruto. She was supposed to be smarter than this. Dragging herself to her feet she swayed dangerously. Her balance was messed up and she couldn't hear anything from her right ear. Her hand came up and touched blood leaking from her ear. Her ear drum must have been shattered she reasoned. Glancing down made her feel sick with the way everything was swaying...oh and the great hole in her side, revealing glistening intestine.

Three light thumps made her glance up. The ANBU's had followed her down.

'Not good.' Sakura thought as they raced towards her. She tried to avoid them but in her dizzy state that was impossible. Blows rained down on her and she was sent stumbling backwards. She desperately tried to fend them off, blocking what she could with her remain arm. A particularly powerful blow to her chest sent her flying backwards, she landed with a crash among a pile of crates. Slumping over she coughed.

A foot was suddenly pressed against her exposed insides. Pain flared in her midsection and Sakura howled like a beast. She reached out for something, anything to help. Her fingers touched wood and closed around it automatically.

With a pain filled roar she swung what she had gotten a hold of at the ANBU. It connected with meaty smack against the ANBU's head and he was tossed away like a ragdoll. Sakura breathed heavily as she glanced at the two-by-four she had picked up. It would do.

As quick as she could using the improvised weapon to help her climb to her feet she faced off against them once more. The wound in her midsection itched, healing.

'Damn, I need two hands for nearly every trick I know.' Sakura mentally sighed, preparing herself to having to beat them to death with the lump of wood she carried.

_**Use them. I'll make sure they work.**_

Sakura blinked at the mask's urging. "How?"

_**Visualise doing your seals inside your head.**_

Sakura grinned, if it worked...she visualised the seals Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog, Snake and targeted one of the ANBU's. With the familiar puff of smoke they swapped places as the Kawarimi no Jutsu was performed perfectly.

The ANBU she replaced reacted confused as if he had never seen Kawarimi before. The one Sakura appeared just to the side was no better.

Sakura raised the makeshift club above her head and brought it down on the back of the ANBU's skull. There was a loud clonk and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Sakura continued raining blows down on the fallen ANBU until his skull had become the consistency of jelly.

By this time the one she had replaced with was charging her once more, sword drawn. She blocked, or tried to block the sword with her two-by-four, however it was sliced in half. She tossed the useless lump down and visualised Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog or Ram, Snake, Tiger as she leapt away to place some distance between them.

Two intangible clones appeared to either side of her which gave the remaining ANBU pause for thought. It did not have long to think as three masked Sakura's raced towards it. The first vanished in a puff of smoke, the illusion disrupted by a slash of the ANBU's sword. The second faired no better however it left the ANBU overextended from putting so much force into his attack.

Sakura's hand gripped his head and before he could react she twisted it violently to the side. His neck snapped and body went limp.

"As I expected." Sakura grinned. "Little worm can't control a body with a broken neck." She tossed the body aside like a piece of trash then checked herself over. Her wounds were mostly healed but she was still missing an arm.

_**Let me do something about that. It won't do to have a cripple for my host.**_

Power flowed through her once more, collecting at her severed shoulder. The bone suddenly grew out of the stump, quickly followed by blood vessels, muscle and tendon. Before her very eyes her arm reconstructed itself, bones first then the other layers slithered down, until at last her skin grew back. Sakura flexed her arm and fingers impressed.

But she was more impressed with something else.

"Sealless jutsu!" Sakura breathed in awe. "I can do sealless jutsu!"

x X x

Ino had no idea what was going on but the thing in the pit was hissing madly. Wave after wave of sickening malevolence would wash over her, she was terrified. Minutes earlier the professor had gave a strained gurgle and stopped talking leaving her alone in the dark.

Ino had begun feeling around, trying to find someway out. On all fours she made slow progress one way until her hand touched another sticky warm fleshy object. She fought back the gag reflex that touching the lump induced in her and backed off.

Ino knelt on her legs and put her hands on the cold floor. She had no idea how to get out.

Suddenly the thing spoke in its bizarre language startling the blonde girl. Suddenly something that felt like bones wrapped around her and she screamed in surprise as she was picked up and moved. She tried to struggle in the thing's grip but it was no good.

As Ino watched on nervously a faint blue glow appeared instantly drawing her attention. It looked like strange symbols had begun to glow in front of her. They pulsed with the light and gradually grew brighter. Soon she could make out a roughly carved stone monolith and she knew what it was.

The light grew bright enough to start making out details. She looked down nervously what was holding her. It looked like a large hand made out of the human bones held together with stretched flesh binding them together to form the larger bones of the hand. She realised the thing must have used the remains that lay down here to form itself a body.

The knuckle popping noise approached and Ino looked up, even though she didn't want to see.

The creature's skull was just like its massive hand she was held in. A freakish collection of skulls, bones and flesh of former humans held it together. It rested on an extremely long neck. From the neck spawned a ribcage built around the glowing stone. Just above the stone held suspended inside the ribcage was a massive heart-shaped lump of flesh. As she looked on Ino realised there were faces, arms, legs and other body parts all moulded together to form the heart. The heart would beat to the sound of agonised groans.

Ino felt ill looking at the heart and glanced back at the head that lowered down to her level.

'It sort of resembles a dragon.' Ino thought subconsciously trying to fit a pattern to its shape. The mouth opened in a bizarre multi-jointed movement, formed from bones that weren't meant to be arrange like they were. Its vicious looking teeth were shaped from snapped and filed bones.

A tongue that looked as if it were made from intestines flicked towards her and it spoke again. Ino closed her eyes and prayed it would go away. It said something else and Ino would be forgiven if she didn't think there was a hint or urgency in its words.

"Help...me...child."

"Professor?" Ino opened her eyes in surprise and went numb. One of the faces on the heart was looking at her pitifully. It spoke with the professor's voice.

"You...have...to help us...release us..."

"H...how?" Ino blinked.

"Activate...the...stone..."

Ino's mouth opened to reply when she paused.

"Like hell!" Ino growled. "You can't trick me!"

The creature roared and Ino cried out as the hand squeezed her. She grit her teeth against the pain. The creature's skull move up close and once again the mouth opened. It hissed as the horrible bloated tongue extended out. Ino watched hypnotised by the bizarre sight. A lump moved underneath the flesh of the tongue, like a snake moving across the desert.

With a sense of dread Ino squeezed her eyes shut.

There was a rush of air and suddenly the pit was filled with a roar from the creature. Ino felt the hand let go of her and a powerful pair of arms pulled her free before she felt herself being carried away.

"I've got you Ino." A voice she never expected to hear again spoke.

"Sakura?" Ino opened her eyes and looked up in shock. Her eyes went wide, it couldn't be Sakura. The body was too big, too strong, too warm to be Sakura. It did wear Sakura's tight, torn and bloodied clothing though...

Ino stared up as the powerful arms that cradled her carefully and the masked face of her rescuer watched the creature with a sense of excitement. "No. You can't be Sakura. I saw her die..."

Her masked rescuer turned to face her and she swallowed in reflex at seeing a pair of yellow eyes that burned with the fires of hell stare right at her. But somehow, Ino knew deep down it was Sakura and suddenly she felt safe for some bizarre reason, as if she knew nothing could hurt her while Sakura was there.

"How?" Ino questioned.

"The mask saved me. And now I've got a job to do." Sakura said letting Ino down.

"Y...you're going to fight it?" Ino asked in stunned disbelief.

"Of course." Sakura grinned behind the mask and lifted her weapon. Ino stared at the large pickaxe Sakura brandished in one hand as easily as if it were a plastic toy sword. "I suggest you take cover...things will get...bloody!"

Sakura began walking towards the massive bone and flesh construct. She studied it carefully for weaknesses.

'At least it can't move from the stone.' Sakura thought seeing as it had no legs and its body was merged with the floor and walls, infecting the house with its presence. It also only had one hand formed, which was handy she chuckled at her own joke.

"You cannot stop me!" the evil told her in the freakish language.

"Oh but I can." Sakura replied with a snarl and rushed forward.

It swiped its hand at her far faster than she had expected. Sakura felt the blow turn her bones to jelly as she was launched sideways towards the pit wall. She heard Ino crying out her name for the second time that night seconds before a bone fist slammed into her. The pit wall shook from the impact.

The creature withdrew its hand. Sakura stayed stuck against the wall for a moment before she seemed to peel off it and collapsed in a bloodied lump on the floor.

Ino watched on in horror as Sakura was seemingly killed before her eyes for the second time that night. Then bizarrely she slowly pushed herself back up.

Sakura groaned and shook her head as all the broken bones and bruised flesh repaired.

"Damn that hurt." She muttered having become quite used to pain lately.

She sensed the fist rushing at her again. Sakura dived to the side, rolling out of the way as it hit the spot she had occupied moments before. The creature's roar of frustration shook the pit and it lashed out at her again.

Sakura leapt this time and stuck herself to the pit wall with her chakra. The creature swung its fist again. She took off at a sprint, running away along the side of the pit and the fist impacted harmlessly much to the creature's anger. She kept running as the creature sent another attempt at crushing her.

Sakura timed it to perfection before jumping off. She hit the ground in a roll and came out it by the pickaxe she had dropped after the first blow caught her by surprise. Sakura hefted the weapon and threw it with all her strength at the beating heart.

"Go Sakura! Kill it!" Ino cheered Sakura on seeing the girl easily dodge the creature's attacks.

Both girls eyes widen in shock as the pickaxe was caught in midair as the creature's ribs closed up like a wall. The creature laughed evilly.

"So was that all you had? Is that it?" it used the same words Sakura had challenged it with earlier.

'Shit! Now what?' she asked the mask.

_**You must get close and kill it with your hands.**_

'Easier said than done.' Sakura grumbled dodging another attack.

Suddenly clumps of flesh grew out of the ground around Sakura's feet, pinning her to the ground.

"Awww shit." she deadpanned as the fist slammed down at her.

In desperation Sakura lifted her hands up and tried to catch the bone fist. She was forced straight to her knees as it slammed into her. Sakura grunted and strained with all her considerable might. The creature applied more force and she felt minute cracks appearing in her bones from the pressure. She couldn't hold it much longer.

Suddenly the hand lifted away and Sakura glanced up in surprise. "What?"

"I can't hold it Sakura...it's too stron..." the creature stated.

Sakura's eyes widen and she whipped her head around in surprise. Ino's body was face down on the ground and Sakura suddenly realised what was going on.

"I could kiss you!" Sakura grinned as she pulled her feet free and rushed towards the exposed heart. Sakura's fist glowed as she screamed. "Ino get out!"

Ino didn't need telling twice, nor did she actually have to release her Shintenshin no Jutsu as the creature had forcefully expelled her almost instantly.

'But it had been enough.' she smirked seeing Sakura put her fist through the massive heart.

Sakura sank her arm right up to the shoulder deep with the heart before pulling it out. The creature roared in agony as she leapt away. A massively over the top amount of blood exploded out the heart in geyser. The flesh holding the heart up snapped one by one before the lump of flesh landed with a wet splat on the floor.

Sakura landed by Ino as she had lifted herself to her elbows. Both girls watched on in triumph as the creature's roar trailed off to a gurgle. Then, with tearing noises the flesh holding it together tore apart from the weight of hundreds of bones and like a house of cards, the creature collapsed into a pile of its constituent parts.

"Did...we get it?" Ino asked weakly, exhausted from trying to possess such a powerful entity.

"Not all of it." Sakura stated lifting one of Ino's arms over her shoulder before helping the other girl to her feet. "But enough that it won't matter for a bit."

"It's still alive?" Ino asked, fear easily heard in her tired voice.

"It was never alive. Not like we are." Sakura stated as she walked over towards the remains.

"What now?" Ino asked as they looked down, the monolith tip still visible from under the remains.

_**Get you friend to open the gates and we can go claim its power for ourselves.**_

'What exactly do you mean?' Sakura frowned at the mask's eager words.

_**Haven't you felt it? We grow stronger on the pain and suffering we cause to our enemies. Each victory makes us stronger and finishing it off now will make us invincible! A new God!**_

"No." Sakura stated simply pulling the pickaxe free of the bones.

"Sakura?" Ino asked confused not able to hear the mask.

_**What are you doing?!**_

Sakura raised the pickaxe and brought it down with everything she had. The monolith shattered under the blow and the mask howled in frustration.

"It ends here." Sakura stated tossing the pickaxe away as the pit was plunged back in to darkness. However, Sakura's glowing eyes gave off enough light for Ino to see the other girl's masked face. "Let's go."

Sakura and Ino turned to leave.

_**Fool! Run!**_

"Huh?" Sakura stated as the ground suddenly shook violently.

"What's going on?" Ino groaned tiredly.

_**You broke the link! This house and everything in it will be dragged in to the void! Run!**_

"Oh crap! Ino we need to get out now!" Sakura shouted picking the other girl up and with a powerful leap shot up out of the pit. They landed on the edge as the rumbling grew, along with a sucking wind.

Sakura raced down the shaking corridors, Ino held in her arms and clinging to her neck as the winds grew stronger. The house groaned and shook, old light-bulbs hanging from yellowed wires flapped about like flags in the wind.

Sakura didn't bother trying to find the doorway, instead she leapt out the first window she saw, using her shoulder to shatter the glass. She landed outside for all of a second before she was running again. Behind them the house groaned like a sinking ship.

"Ino? Sakura?" Asuma blinked as a masked and far too buff Sakura carrying Ino raced past him and Inoichi. Both groups skidded to halt and stared in confusion. The ground began to shake as the wind began to pick up.

"Quick we need to get away!" Sakura bellowed over the winds.

"Dad!" Ino shouted.

Asuma took one look at the house as it began folding in on itself and took the pink haired girl's advice. All four fled as the house slowly was sucked into the ground as if it were water going down the drain, until the wind died down.

The group turned to face the way they had fled and stared at the funnel shaped hole that was left.

"That's...a damned big sink hole." Asuma finally stated in confusion.

"Hell yeah." Sakura agreed letting Ino down.

Inoichi took one look at the state of his daughter's face and he was over by her in a flash.

"What the hell happened to you two?"

"You wouldn't believe me." Ino stated feeling every single one of her bruises.

"When did you get so...so...buff?" Asuma spoke to Sakura. At least he guessed it was Sakura. Well she was wearing the same clothes, although they were tattered, torn and covered in more dried blood than the floor of a slaughter house.

"Err..." Sakura began to speak when suddenly she felt tired, oh so tired. She dropped to one knee as everything went dark for a second. She could hear voices calling out her name and heard a loud crack and for a moment she was sure she felt cool night air on her face once again, just before she passed out.

x X x

"Is there anything more you two can add?" Tsunade addressed Asuma and Inoichi after they had gone over the reports of Sakura and Ino.

Asuma leaned back in the chair he was sat on, his arms folded easily across his broad chest. His cigarette was hanging the corner of his mouth, unlit, as Tsunade promised to stick it where the sun didn't shine if he did light it in her office.

"All I can say is that both of them were beat up. That mask was real and we both saw the house...vanish. The rest of it?" Asuma shrugged. "Who knows?"

"They both believe what they saw and neither seemed to have had their minds tampered with." Inoichi added. "I can't find any evidence of the mask talking to Sakura though as she claims. Unless it has hidden them from me somehow."

"Frightening thought of what sort of power that mask could give someone in the wrong hands if how they describe Sakura's abilities were boosted by it." Asuma stated.

"I'm more concerned about extra-dimensional beings older than time trying to invade us." Tsunade stated. "Are you both sure the mask was...destroyed?"

"Yep, it crumbled off her face shortly after the house vanished." Asuma nodded.

"Blew away in the wind." Inoichi supplied. "How is Sakura anyway?"

"Sakura is fine aside from sleeping nearly two days from exhaustion." Tsunade replied. "She woke up and ate the hospital nearly out of food. Out of the pair Ino's injuries were the worst."

"From how the Haruno girl described her transformation that's not surprising. Healing broken bones and cuts in seconds? Crazy powerful stuff."

"And dangerous." Tsunade stated. "Healing ones body that quickly has side effects, usually."

"Usually?"

"Yes. Making your cells divide that fast to heal damage wears them out causing rapid aging. From Sakura's description of events she should be a little old lady hobbling around by now." Tsunade sighed.

"She's not though." Inoichi prompted in curiosity.

"No. In fact she seems to have the cells of a newborn. It's like she just gained twelve years of life in a night."

Asuma's eyebrows rose. "Neat."

"Far too neat." Tsunade sighed and looked out her windows. As if they didn't have enough things to worry about.

x X x

Sakura closed the door to her bedroom and wandered over to her bed. She flopped down backwards on it and placed her hands behind her head, deep in thought.

She was back to normal as far as anyone could tell, however Tsunade-sensei had spoken with her in great length over the fact her cells seemed to have reset. She didn't know what she should feel about that.

One thing she did feel was as if she had been through every single medical examine in the history of medicine. If she ever saw the inside of a hospital for a thousand years it would be too soon. She snorted knowing she'd be back there soon once Tsunade-sensei let her back for training. Somehow the thought of becoming a medic-nin held no pleasure for her any longer.

Not after tasting true power...

Crazily enough Sakura found herself missing the mask. She wondered where it had gone. Ino said it had crumbled, but Sakura knew deep down it was not gone. It was out there somewhere. When she slept she heard its voice, whispering promises of power to her and to be honest, she wanted it.

To be strong. To be powerful. To be an unstoppable juggernaut of rage and pain.

She chuckled at the craziness of that thought and rolled over.

"Huh?" Sakura blinked feeling something hard under her covers and a jolt of excitement and energy rushed up her spine. She pulled the covers down quickly and there it was. The mask lay on her bed, in pristine condition. A familiar evil stare looked up at her.

With the shaky fingers of an addict that hadn't gotten a fix, Sakura reverently lifted it up to the light. Her fingers slowly traced the contours lovingly as the eye sockets glowed with a ghostly yellow flame.

_**Forever...**_

The End


	5. Chapter 5

**The Variant and the Vampire – Original Version**

This is a crossover with the awesome flash animation series called Xombie by James Farr, which is now a book and a comic. If you like zombies with a twist go read it. :D

I'm using Seras from the manga version of Hellsing after she had taken her first life and became a true vampire. The Basic premise is two different yet similar monsters that are holding on to their humanity are brought together in friendship by the desire to protect one special little girl in a zombie infested world.

Chapter 1

The chilling November wind blew in from the sea, catching the few remaining leaves on the trees that lined the cliff face like twisted skeletal sentries, wrenching them violently free and casting them into the air to drift away. The night sky was cloudy but in between the breaks in the clouds the light from the full moon would briefly cast its illumination over the land.

In one such break a lone figure was revealed making its way along the former costal highway, almost casually walking between the many husks of cars, long since abandoned. Whether the cars had been abandoned in the panic during the outbreak years earlier or the occupants had left afterwards was unknown.

The figure was a female of average height wearing a long black tenchcoat that was left open revealing a blood-red in colour stylised military or maybe a police uniform. She adjusted the straps of the large backpack she was carrying; one that seemed like it should be too big for her frame to be lugging about as easily as she was. She ran a fingerless-gloved hand through her messy blond hair that partly covered one eye and frowned as her sensitive ears picked out an unusual sound. A sound she had not heard for years.

Seras paused and cocked her head slightly at the sound of rotor blades approaching from the west. Rotor blades meant a helicopter, and a helicopter meant there must be a human settlement nearby. Humans meant blood; warm blood and Seras felt a stirring of hunger that she rapidly squashed.

"No need for me to go near to temptation." Seras muttered to herself. "Don't wanna add to these people's problems. The last thing I need on my conscious is the deaths of any survivors from a half-starved vampire losing control."

The sound of the helicopter was drawing closer now and Seras turned to stare in the direction of the noise. Her incredibly sharp eyesight easily picked out the shape of the helicopter, a Black Hawk Seras absently noted even as the moon was hidden once more by a passing cloud.

The aircraft was in amazing condition Seras observed as the sleek craft passed loudly overhead and headed out to sea. Seras briefly wondered what could have caused a group of survivors to take a helicopter and fly out to sea. Whatever it was must be important to their continued survival if they were using precious fuel on the endeavour.

"Weird." Seras stated watching the Black Hawk disappear into the horizon before shrugging. "Whatever it is, it'll be best to avoid it."

With the nights oddity gone Seras once more began to lazily drift between the cars, basically just following the road. She had no idea where she was going or any inkling of what she was going to do when she got there. Since being chased out of England over forty years ago when Hellsing had been disbanded and the 'pet' vampires order to be destroyed, she had been wandering aimlessly. Seras absently wondered what had happened to Integra Hellsing not for the first time.

Integra had been able to get Seras out of the country after the devastation of London at the hands of Alucard and the Last Battalion in their bloody conflict. Seras had never had chance to actually thank her and as she was no longer a fledging tied to her former master she no longer knew what had happened to him, although she suspected that he was still around. There was no way in her mind that Alucard could have been destroyed, maybe ordered to sleep but never destroyed.

Seras had ended up in America where she drifted from place to place; occasionally she helped out people with troubles but generally kept out of sight. Preferring to keep to the shadows, she had survived on a diet of blood stolen from hospitals or that of criminals that had the misfortune to cross her, Seras still had her morals even if she was a true vampire now. As Alucard had once remarked, she walked in the sunset, not quite in the light but not in darkness either.

This had all changed nine years ago; an outbreak of some kind of virus in 2033 that reanimated the dead brought hell to earth. The virus dubbed Nekrosis, Seras had learned from the reading the newspapers had infected everyone, living and dead and it was fated that everyone who died would be reanimated as a mindless monster. For a time the governments of the world joined together to fight the zombies, but with every human that died, they bolstered the ranks of the undead hordes. Eventually the remaining survivors had managed to hide themselves away.

A sudden loud explosion from out to sea caught her attention and she found herself unconsciously whipping her head towards the horizon where an orange glow was seen. Obviously a fire with the thick black smoke rising into the sky, whatever had exploded had been big, maybe an oil rig.

Curiosity getting the better of her Seras altered her direction and headed towards the cliff face to get a better look. Hopping over the metal barrier that separated the drop from the road she approached the cliff edge and stared out to sea. As she scanned the horizon for any indication of what had occurred a large flock of seagulls had begun gathering over the beach.

Seras paused in her scanning the horizon to turn her attention to the local wildlife. Well not quite life, the birds where all in various stages of decomposition, all victims of Nekrosis. The virus seemed to infect everything.

The flock of undead birds were quickly gathering on the beach and waiting. Waiting for what exactly Seras wondered.

"Bloody birds." Seras said annoyed as she remembered her own many encounters with flocks of dead birds herself when the little flying rats mistook her for something living. Despite being dead herself the zombies brought back by the virus did not ignore her like they did their own. Mostly they got confused before deciding to screw it and attack her anyway.

The flock grew bigger and Seras noticed they seemed to have encircled something. Looking down she was surprised to see a young girl, not more than six years old lying unmoving on the sand. She was wearing a bright orange lifejacket and Seras guessed the girl had been washed up. She must have been involved in the explosion and ended washed up on the beach.

"Poor girl." Seras stated sadly as more zombie-gulls landed on the beach. Seras paused, a frown decorating her face as something tickled the back of her mind. Why would zombie-gulls surround a dead body?

"Oh no." The words left Seras' mouth even as she sprang into motion. Zombies only surrounded living things and as Seras raced towards the pathway that led down to the beach she hoped she would get there in time.

For a brief period Seras lost sight of the little girl as the cliffs blocked her view. As she rounded the corner the screech of hundreds of dead birds echoed across the beach. Seras shoot forward onto the beach like a bullet and sent sand spraying in multiple directions as she came to a skidding halt at the sight of the birds attacking the girl who was trying her best to fend off their razor-sharp beaks as they sort out the girl's eyes with her lifejacket.

Even from the edge of the parking lot Seras could smell the fresh blood from the girl indicating she had been cut already by the birds. The girl was shrieking and flailing the lifejacket like a shield as she ran up the beach.

Seras burst into action again, grabbing a piece of driftwood and charging into the fray herself. The girl could not see Seras as Seras swung the makeshift weapon wildly sending tiny rotten bodies flying away, many with a sickening crunch or worse a dull squelching noise.

"Get off her!" Seras shouted drawing attention of the undead birds to herself. The girl ran blindly towards Seras seemingly to not hear her voice and with an exclamation of "oof" she ran into Seras and fell back onto the sand.

The girl looked up at Seras through tears and blood from her right eye where a zombie-gull had caught her face. Seras reached down and grabbed the girl off the ground dropping her weapon before the undead birds could capitalise.

"Hold on to me." Seras commanded pulling the girl to her chest and wrapping her arms protectively around the girl's head. With the girl held out of the way Seras turned and raced up the beach followed by the horde of zombie-gulls that had decided Seras was not going to escape with their supper.

Seras cursed zombie-birds once again as the swarm battered against her backpack, flapped around her head and tried to get at the girl. The cries of hundreds of the tiny demons filled her ears and many of the beaks pierced her arms and legs as Seras ran with the girl. Seras ignored the damage; she had had far worse in her time and she would heal it anyway and concentrated on putting distance between themselves and the flock from hell.

Seras' feet finally hit the concrete of the parking lot and now that she was off the sand she began to pull well ahead of the zombie-gulls. All the time the girl she had rescued sobbed into her chest. Seras was now acutely aware of the smell of blood from the girl, fresh, healthy virgin blood and it took all of her willpower to ignore it.

Turning her attention to the road ahead Seras decided to head towards the forest. The tree branches would give them cover and even though the zombie-gulls could fly and smell the girl, they were not as agile in death as they were once in life. The branches would be a serious impediment to them.

Seras sprinted into the forest and was pleased to note her plan had worked. The noise of the birds began to fade as they crashed into branches or the trees themselves. Hope they skewer themselves Seras thought nastily.

Seras finally slowed down as the noise faded. They could not stop for long, undead humans could smell the living from miles away and undead animals even further. Soon there would be every zombie within a few miles radius heading towards the girl.

Seras stopped and gently placed the girl down on the cold forest floor. The girl's terrified face stared up at her and Seras smiled putting on her friendliest face.

"It's okay. You're safe now. Mostly." Seras told the shaking girl. Getting a good look at her Seras noted the scratch over the girl's eye was still bleeding, making it appear worse than it actually was. The girl's hair was a lilac colour which Seras thought was odd as it seemed natural. She was wearing loose fitting pants covered in a multitude of pockets and a gray t-shirt with a raven drawn on it. Also the girl was soaked to the bone and shivering.

"We better get that scratch patched up before more of them arrive." Seras stated dropping her back backpack onto the ground so she could find a first aid kit she carried around in case of bumping into wounded humans. "I'm Seras. What's you name?"

"Z...Zoe." the girl answered her voice wavering.

"That's a nice..." Seras started to speak while looking through one of the side pouches on her backpack when a zombie-gull burst from it squawking angrily. Zoe shrieked but Seras had already grabbed the undead bird by its throat and lifted it up. The zombie-gull's glazed eyes bulged from its skull almost comically as Seras squeezed its neck. It attempted to squawk but no sound came from the dead bird's crushed windpipes. Tossing the zombie-gull to the ground Seras stomped on it with a heavily booted foot crushing it into the ground and bringing a final death to it.

"Impure souls of the living dead shall be banished to hell. Amen." Seras chuckled as she casually ground the lump of rotten flesh and bone beneath her boot. "Sorry about that, it must have crawled in while we were running." Seras told Zoe.

The girl looked at Seras her good eye wide open in surprise. The girl's expression morphed into one of amazement the recent trauma forgotten. "That was cool!"

"You think?" Seras smiled retrieving the first aid kit from her backpack. Popping the lid she withdrew an antiseptic cream, some cottenwool and a patch of gauze. Taking a damp wipe from its protective package Seras knelt down in front of Zoe.

"This might sting a little." Seras told the girl as she dabbed the wound cleaning the dirt from it. "Keep your eye shut." Seras proceeded to treat the girl's wounds all the time fighting to ignore the smell of blood. Once the girl was patched up Seras placed the first aid kit back into the pouch and while the girl was not looking licked the blood from the cloth. Seras closed her eyes in rapture; the girl's blood was so pure that Seras found herself having very bad thoughts.

"Ms. Seras." Zoe asked tugging on Seras' trenchcoat which snapped Seras back to reality.

"Ya?" Seras asked guiltily tossed to cloth over her shoulder.

"Can I go home now?"

"Home." Seras pondered before asking the required question. "Where do you live?"

Zoe's face scrunched up in concentration before she looked at Seras with a worried expression in her visible eye. "I don't remember."

"You don't huh." Seras replied examining the girl.

"I'm sorry." Zoe stated looking downcast as if expecting Seras to be mad at her.

"Not surprising what you've just been through. Probably a mild post-traumatic stress disorder, you'll probably remember in few days. Give it time." Seras reassured the girl which caused her face to brighten.

"Y...you think so?" Zoe asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Seras stated hefting her backpack onto her back once more. "Now that Black Hawk went out to sea so I'm betting you came from it or were being picked up. The chopper came from the west so if we head that way I'm sure I'll be able to find a settlement."

Seras held her hand out and smiled. "Well we better be moving."

Zoe hesitated before taking Seras' hand and the pair set off towards the west. Seras carefully kept her pace slow and her eyes and ears peeled for danger. There was no doubt in Seras' mind that zombies would be approaching shortly. They were slow and dumb, but persistent and eventually they always caught up.

Zoe could not actually make out anything in the dark forest as her rescuer led her by the hand and remarked on this.

"I can't see anything Ms. Seras." Zoe whispered.

"Don't worry, I can see fine." Seras assured Zoe leading the girl steadily through the dark forest. "And just call me Seras."

The only sounds were of twigs snapping under their feet or the rustle of branches as the wind passed. The former normal nighttime's sounds of various nocturnal animals no longer sounded during the night. The world was to all intents silent now, day and night as if slowly dying away. This was probably not far from the truth. Even to Seras the silence was spooky and unnatural, even though she had grown used to it during the last few years. That was why it came to her as a complete surprise to hear faint music playing.

"Wait." Seras stated causing Zoe to freeze up. Seras turned her head to get a better focus on the noise. It was some kind of orchestra music, scratchy and would jump now and then. Must be on an old turntable of some kind, old tech even during when she was alive.

"What is it?" Zoe asked frightened as she could hear nothing but the wind.

"Music." Seras replied before gently tugging Zoe. Seras had decided to investigate the music. "Come on."

As Seras led Zoe out of the forest and towards the music, the sound became stronger until even Zoe could make the faint music out. The pair paused at the foot of some steps that led up a hill towards a cemetery.

"Evergreen Memorial Cemetery." Seras read out staring at the metal sign that formed the entrance arch to the cemetery. "You're kidding me."

"The music is in there?" Zoe asked her blond rescuer.

"Apparently." Seras stated taking in the rusty gates that hung open and the general overgrown appearance. The cloud cover decided to move at that point in time and the full moon once again bathed the grounds with its light making long shadows appear to stretch out from the various different shapes and sizes of tombstones like clawed fingers reaching for them.

Seras sniffed the air. Moist dirt, grass, a definite smell of zombies and an overpowering stench of formaldehyde. Seras frowned at this. Who in their right mind wanted to preserve dead flesh these days? After all it would get up and walk around. Curiosity was eating her alive now, and Seras took a tentative step towards the cemetery. Zoe followed closely holding onto Seras' trenchcoat.

At the top of the steps, Seras paused and looked around the cemetery. A faint mist hung around the base of the graves giving the cemetery the old horror movie look and as Seras stared around the music wound down and finally stopped with a scratching noise.

"Stay close." Seras told Zoe who had no intention of letting go of Seras' coat. They walked into the cemetery with Seras leading, following the smell of embalming fluids. They seemed to be coming from the largest of the mausoleums. Seras noted the door was open and a very faint light was on in the distant at the bottom of the steps down.

A wet moan to her left was all the noise Seras needed to know that there were zombies in the cemetery.

"Zoe don't scream." Seras stated precisely at the moment Zoe spotted the zombie and screamed.

"Oh great." Seras sighed as the girl's shriek alerted every undead in the cemetery. Seras turned around pulling Zoe with her and putting herself between the approaching zombies and the little girl. Seras swore under her breath at the sight, at least ten shadows moved slowly and jerkily around the various tombstones as if they did not know how to really move. Seras' sharp eyesight could make out the various zombies, most in quite an advanced state of decomposition, flesh and sometimes whole limbs missing. Soon the groans and growls started to rise in volume as more of the undead became aware of a living body in the cemetery and began their conga-line-of-death towards them.

Seras dropped her backpack to the ground and indicated to it. "Zoe, stay behind that."

Seras began to reach for her guns and paused. Knowing the noise from firing her guns would attract more zombies and the fact she had limited bullets, Seras decided it would be better to take this lot out by hand, messier but quieter.

"Until all targets are silenced." Seras spoke an evil grin covering her face as she cracked her knuckles, feeling the lust for battle swelling inside.

Charging forward Seras decided to take the battle to the zombies. With a shout she punched the closest one right in the centre of its skull. The zombie's head basically vanished into the distance from the impact with a crunch and its body collapsed. The others near it seemed to pause in confusion giving Seras time to grab the next nearest one.

She gripped the zombie by the skull and with a simple bit of pressure crushed the dead thing's skull easily. The ones near her began to reach out for her as they realised she was not one of them. Seras twisted backwards and slammed her elbow into another zombie's face, sending its teeth and jaw flying and the zombie stumbling away.

Zoe leaned out from behind Seras' backpack and stared in amazement as her rescuer started to fight the zombies hand to hand. As she watched in fascination Zoe became sure that the zombies were going to be no match for Seras. Seras moved between them like water, punching zombie faces sending anything not solidly fixed to their skulls flying. Bones broke under Seras' fierce kicks and any that fell soon ended up with a bootprint firmly and permanently embedded into their decaying brains.

Seras looked like she was enjoying herself Zoe thought and completely missed that Seras' visible eye was no longer a bright blue but a blood-red. She also missed the zombie that had snuck up from her right, right until its decayed fingers grabbed her. Zoe jumped and tried to pull away but was firmly caught in the dead man's grip. Zoe screamed as the lipless, noseless and eyeless creature opened its mouth wide giving her an unwelcome look at its bloated purple tongue.

"Zoe!" Seras shouted hearing the girl's scream and cursed herself for forgetting the girl in her lust for battle. It was all the remaining zombies needed to rush forward and dogpile Seras. Seras fell to the ground taken by surprise as the zombies began to try to bite and tear her apart.

Zoe continued screaming as the zombie's mouth inched closer and time seemed to slow down for her when suddenly the sound of metal impacting skull echoed around the cemetery. Zoe stared up as black drool splattered her face.

The zombie had come to a complete standstill, and attached to the back of its head was a metal shovel-blade. Zoe was certain that it the zombie had eyes they would be rolling around like in those cartoons she watched. The zombie collapsed bonelessly and the shadow of a large man behind it pulled the shovel back.

"Stay put little girl while I help your friend." The hulking shaped stated, its voice deep and gravelly. Zoe could only stare up in surprise as her newest rescuer leapt away towards the zombies pinning Seras down.

"Get off!" Seras' voice shouted out from under the pile before the zombies exploded off her. Seras pulled herself to her feet, a particularly stubborn zombie still clinging to her back.

"Fore!" A deep voice stated before Seras felt the rush of air past her head and felt the zombie fall off. Turning quickly she saw the zombie's head disappearing into the distance and before she could turn to her would-be rescuer he spoke again. "Stomp em while they're down."

With that said the man began to slam his large shovel down on the bodies, severing heads. Seras deciding to ask questions later joined in, literally stamping out the zombie menace. The pair of them made short work of the remaining zombies, between Seras' boots and the man's shovel which he wielded like somekind of shovel-ninja.

"Phew." The man stated spinning the shovel before jabbing the blade into the ground and leaning casually against it. "That would get your blood pumping, if you have any that is."

"Thanks." Seras stated turning to face the man and her eyes widened in surprise. Staring her in the face were a pair of milky eyes, set in a face that was little more than blueish skin stretched over a grinning skull due to having no lips. No nose, but what was left of it was plugged with what seemed to be a filter. The 'man' only wore a pair of tattered trousers and some bandages wrapped around his wrists. The man was in fact a zombie and Seras stared completely thrown, that was probably the only reason he was not immediately smashed by a vampire-powered fist.

"What's wrong? You never seen a zombie before?" the heavily muscled dead man quipped amused.

"You...can...talk?" Seras dumbly pointed out.

"Give the crazy lady a prize." The large zombie stated.

"Hey!" Seras snapped. "Who are you calling crazy?"

"The person who attacked a bunch of zombies with her fists." The large dead man ground out standing to his full imposing height, even with a slight hunch he towered above Seras. "Seriously, who in their right man fights zombies without a weapon?" he asked yanking his shovel out of the ground.

"Seras?" Zoe asked walking over slowly, carefully observing the zombie that was talking with Seras.

"It's okay Zoe." Seras slowly spoke before adding. "I think."

Zoe examined the large zombie that seemed like a giant to her before asking. "You're not going to eat us?"

"If I was going to I'd have tried it by now." The zombie rumbled. "But if you don't want the other zombies trying to you should get in there and I'll shut the door so they can't get in. Also the strong smell of embalming fluids will hide your scents from them." He pointed to the mausoleum.

"There's more zombies?" Zoe asked looking around the graveyard nervously.

"There's _always_ more zombies." Both Seras and the large dead man stated together before blinking and staring at each other suspiciously which caused Zoe to actually giggle.

"Well, that does sound like a plan." Seras said while carefully placing herself between Zoe and the zombie, not quite trusting him. While Seras retrieved her backpack and lifted it easily over one shoulder the zombie observed her, he was feeling a strange vibe from the woman. Something was odd with her but he could not quite place his rotten finger on what it was.

"Do you have a name?" Seras asked turning to face him catching him by surprise. The large zombie paused and his jaw unhinged as if to speak. To be honest he could not remember if he had a name or not. He knew he must have had a name but could not for the un-life of him remember what it was.

"I...don't know." He admitted his decayed face actually seemed to show sadness. Glancing at the tomb door and his eyes wandered over the weathered inscription. The inscription was in Latin and read Dirge, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectus tuo viam meam.

"You can call me...Dirge." Dirge rumbled.

**Chapter 2**

The newly named Dirge silently examined the woman; Seras the girl had called her as she placed herself between him and the girl. Dirge could not actually blame her, he knew what his appearance was like and it was not like anyone had even seen a zombie that had intelligence before. He was still surprised Seras had agreed to his request that they hide down in the crypt so easily, but was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Trying not to make it obvious he was examining her, Dirge became curious about Seras' backpack. The pack was large; the sight of Seras holding it casually over one shoulder looked almost comically out of place. The slim blond had lifted the pack easily and Dirge had at first thought the pack must be practically empty, but even with the filter his sensitive sense of smell could make out the scent of polished metal and gunpowder emanating from Seras' backpack and the faint clink of metal striking metal gave away the fact the she had at least a couple of guns hidden in that pack.

Staring at the bottom of the pack, Dirge could make out some additions to the pack's base. Patches of thick material had been sown onto it, reinforcing the underside and Dirge could see the base bulging with the weight of whatever weapons were inside. His eyes drifted over the straps and noted a similar reinforcement there. It indicated that Seras was stronger than she appeared at first glance.

"Well?" Seras asked turning to face Dirge as Zoe and she passed the entranceway to stand on the top steps. Zoe was peering down into the darkness below, a look of apprehension on her face as she clutched tightly to Seras' coat. "You going to stare at me all night or shut the door?"

"Right." Dirge stated absently as he gave the cemetery a quick once over and proceeded to walk over to stand in the entrance next to Seras. Zoe moved to hide herself more behind Seras when Dirge approached and the dead man felt a twinge of annoyance and sadness at the effect he had on the girl. Could not be helped he supposed, after all he was a zombie. Kids would be taught to fear zombies.

With an unnecessary grunt Dirge gripped the makeshift handle he had placed on the large stone slab that was the crypt door and dragged it slowly shut. The entrance was slowly plunged into complete darkness as the light from the full moon outside was cut off.

As the only light vanished, Zoe gripped Seras' coat even tighter. Her knuckles going white, she was scared but at least Seras was here. The big zombie that talked seemed friendly but weren't zombies supposed to eat people? Didn't they like to hide in the dark and grab unwary people? That's what she had been taught by her mother...

"It's ok Zoe. I'm here." Seras' voice spoke out in the dark and Zoe felt a gentle hand rest against her head calming her. If Seras was calm then she would be fine Zoe reasoned, after all she had seen Seras take on zombies already.

Seras watched the intelligent zombie carefully, almost expecting him to turn on them any second. Intelligent and zombie. Two words that should never be used in the same sentence. It was like trying to mix water and oil, they would not and Seras was extremely puzzled at the existence of Dirge. She was dying to find more out about him as he was a curiosity.

Dirge checked that the slab door was not closed all the way leaving a small gap. As the crypt was almost air tight he did not want to cut off the pair's air supply as he would not notice. Turning around slowly he paused in surprise and gripped his shovel tighter by reflex. For a brief second he had been sure that he had seen two glowing red eyes in the dark boring into him. Blinking quickly the image had vanished leaving only the darkness in front of him and he dismissed it as his eyes playing tricks on him.

"Follow me." Dirge spoke alerting them to the fact he was moving and walked past the pair. He was as blind as he expected the two humans to be in total darkness, but his familiarity with the crypt and sense of smell allowed him to navigate around them easily. Looking down the spiralling steps a faint light could be seen in the distance, a greenish glow. "Careful on the steps, they're a bit uneven." Dirge warned.

Seras let the large zombie pass by and get a few steps ahead of them before she leant down and picked Zoe up. Zoe instinctively placed her arms around Seras' neck while Seras cradled her in the crook of her arm, allowing Zoe to sit. The smell of having the little girl so close to her was hard to ignore and the vampiric craving for blood came on stronger than previously. Seras forced her eyes to focus on the back of Dirge's hairless skull, turning her thoughts to the zombie. Seras noted he seemed to have a crisscrossed scar on the back of his skull and focused on watching that bob up and down with each step he took.

As the strange group descended the light became brighter and the smell of formaldehyde got stronger. They stepped into the crypt at the bottom of the stairs and onto a spongy ground. Seras looked down to see that the floor was covered with a layer of dirt. At Zoe's gasp Seras glanced up and her eyes were drawn to what had caused the girl's reaction.

Straight ahead of them a large cylindrical glass tube, filled with a green liquid standing in one corner. A multitude of jury-rigged pipes and tubes extruded from the top and spidered over the ceiling and entered what must be a pump. Seras knew that was where the smell was coming from and walked over to stare into the murky green and faintly glowing depths. There was a vague outline floating in the tube, but she was unable to make out exactly what it was.

"It's embalming fluid." Dirge stated as he placed his shovel against the wall by the entrance. "In case you were wondering."

Seras turned away from the container and looked at Dirge quizzically. "What are you preserving?"

"Mostly myself." Dirge replied with a faint chuckle. "How do you think I look so good?" He flashed Seras his most suave grin, which actually looked like something that had crawled out from the depths of hell.

"I see." Seras said turning her attention to examine the rest of the crypt that Dirge was using as a home. The first thing to notice after the large glass container was the fact that every wall, nook and cranny was covered with books. Piles upon piles of books of ever colour, shape or size you could imagine. The crypt was a veritable library and Seras whistled at the size of Dirge's collection. It must have taken him some time to collect all these books. Letting Zoe down Seras picked up the nearest book and flipped through it and frowned. It was one of those incredibly complex scientific theory books that Seras knew she had no chance of understanding and replaced it back on the pile. The moment Zoe's feet had touched the ground the girl had begun examining the piles of books as well, staring up at the nearest mountain with awe.

"Some heavy reading." Seras stated.

"Especially for a zombie, right?" Dirge asked his voice rumbling as he crossed over the crypt to lean down and begin winding up the antique gramophone. "Well, make yourselves at home." Dirge stated lifting the stylus. He carefully placed it against the rotating record and soon the sounds of Mozart's Requiem began to play. Dirge then dropped himself into the worn high-backed chair next to the gramophone and reach down to the side and retrieved the book he had been reading before he had went to investigate the disturbance upstairs.

Seras stared at the zombie while Dirge buried his head into his book and she wondered if she had hurt his feelings. Now that was a crazy thought Seras thought shaking her head, but then again so was a sentient zombie. One smart enough to be reading books on quantum physics and other baffling theories. She was going to ask him some questions and decided that Zoe would not need to hear them.

"Come here Zoe." Seras asked gently. Zoe had started to climb one of the book mountains when Seras had spoken. The purple–haired girl paused before clambering back down.

"Okay." Zoe said accidentally knocking a couple of books loose. The books landed open and the pages would surely be creased, causing Seras to glance over at Dirge in case the large zombie would be mad at the girl ruining his books, but he seemed completely engrossed in the book he was reading and if he had noticed he was not reacting to it.

Seras took Zoe's hand once more and led her past Dirge towards the back of the crypt. As they passed an alcove, Seras noticed a large amount of newspaper clippings stuck to the wall and deciding to examine them on the way back.

She was pleased to note that if there had been any coffins down here Dirge had already moved them out. Seras checked the area carefully to ensure Zoe would be safe left alone. Once she was happy that they were the only ones down here Seras let go of Zoe's hand and dropped her backpack with a thud, clink of metal and a faint raised cloud of dust.

"What are you doing?" Zoe asked while Seras began moving books carefully off one of the alcoves.

"Making you a place to sleep." Seras replied dusting the ledge down once the books where cleared.

"But I'm not tired." Zoe stated in childish defiance at going to bed while Seras shrugged off her long coat and placed it down on the makeshift bed.

"Come on Zoe." Seras told the girl gently picking her up and putting her down on the ledge.

"Do I have to?" Zoe asked cutely, Seras' coolness was definitely diminished with the enforced bedtime. Seras tucked her coat tightly around the girl to keep her warm, the crypt was cold and the last thing Seras wanted was the girl to catch something.

"I'm not tired." Zoe stated once more to which Seras leaned close and looked Zoe in the eyes.

"You. Are. Tried. Go. To. Sleep." Seras commanded drawing on her abilities.

"I'm tired." Zoe repeated hypnotised and her visible eye drooped before closing completely as the young girl went into a deep slumber.

"Good girl." Seras gently patted Zoe's head and stood up. Yep, Seras thought to herself, I could make a living out of being a nanny. Giving the area one last check Seras turned and walked back over to the newspaper clippings she had seen coming this way. The first was about a police dog being rewarded and Seras skimmed over that. Next to that was a set of photographs of mountains and above that a picture of an Egyptian. The next article that caught her eye was titled "Black Spire North Brings Jobs, Misgivings to DC".

"Government defence giant Black Spire has renewed the $70 billion research and development contract, bolstering employment for the surrounding metro area, and strengthening the local economy. Through official releases omit the nature of the research, this hasn't stopped MABS, DarkSpire and other watchdog groups from weighing in. The company's rumoured involvement with WMD development has been categorically denied, though recent leaks involving quantum mechanics have given rise to new suspicions." Seras read quietly wondering why Dirge was keeping this. Scanning the other articles were not as interesting, one mentioned something about an ability to switch hair colours as easily as clothes though some sort of DNA research. The other was about a block of ice found on an Egyptian dig that was baffling scientists. The rest was familiar to Seras as she had seen all of it happen. The rise of the dead and subsequence fall of humanity.

Feeling she had learned all she could from the clippings Seras left them behind and walked back over to where Dirge was still reading quietly, his face obscured by his book. Seras walked over to stand before him, calmly observing the reading zombie as he flicked the pages of his book and she read the title, Theoretical Neuroscience.

"I suppose you're wondering how I can think." Dirge spoke not taking his eyeballs off the page.

"In a nutshell, yeah." Seras replied. "Zombies aren't usually known to read books on neuroscience. Hell, most humans don't."

"Beats me." Dirge stated with a sigh as he lowered the book. "I have about as much idea as you do."

"How'd it happen? Your death I mean."

"No idea." Dirge stated with a wave of the book. "I don't remember anything before waking up like this."

"But you remember enough to talk and read." Seras probed.

"Yeah, weird huh." Dirge paused and eyeballed Seras. "What were the pair of you doing out here alone anyway? Humans don't usually leave the settlement in pairs and it's irresponsible for you to bring your child out here."

"Child?" Seras asked before waving her hands. "You've got it all wrong. I found her on the beach about to become zombie-gull food."

"Oh." Dirge stated his eyes widening. "I just thought you must have been...you know. So you rescued her?"

"Yeah. Dived in grabbed her and ran for it." Seras spoke.

"Ahhh." Dirge exclaimed. "So you became separated from the main group in that helicopter. You're part of a rescue team. Explains your uniform." Dirge stared at Seras and chuckled. "I'm surprised they let you wear such a short skirt. It must be quite the distraction."

"Wait. Wait. Wait." Seras shook her head. "You've got it all wrong. I'm by myself. I was wandering along the road when the helicopter flew out to sea. Then there was an explosion in the distance and shortly after that I noticed the birds. Zoe was washed up on the beach and I think she came from the helicopter."

Dirge's face showed his disbelief as he listened to Seras' explanation.

"So let me get this straight. You wander around out there alone." Dirge stated. Seras nodded. "Don't get me wrong but I just don't see how. Every single zombie within four point seven miles would be homing in on you. Trust me, I know. A lone human's chances of surviving out there are slim to none."

"Let's just say I had experience with dealing with undead before the outbreak." Seras smirked mysteriously.

Dirge's eyebrows, well eyebrow ridge rose in interest and he leaned forward in his chair. "You were involved with zombies before the outbreak? How exactly?"

"I was part of a group that hunted similar monsters back in England." Seras told the zombie in front of her. "Not the same as the ones from the outbreak but close."

"How close?" Dirge asked.

"Close enough that when the outbreak started making the news I began seeking out the puppet master behind them." Seras paused. "The ones we dealt with were man-made and were controlled by a...commander. I soon found out that these weren't the same and there was no mastermind directing them. The ghouls we dealt with could be used to fire weapons and act like an organised group."

"So the ones your group dealt with weren't created by Nekrosis?" Dirge asked.

"No." Seras shook her head. "They definitely weren't created by Nekrosis."

"Oh." Dirge leaned back in the chair obviously disappointed. "I was hoping you might have known how I came about."

"Sorry, can't help you there." Seras told Dirge. "You're a completely new species of zombie to me."

"Wonderful. Mark me down in the pages of evolution." Dirge groaned before looking back towards Seras. "You're British eh? Explains your accent, you came over during the war?"

"Nah. I was over here long before that started." Seras stated.

Dirge frowned. Something was not adding up here. Seras claimed to be dealing with creatures similar to zombies before the outbreak and that she had been in America for a while before the outbreak. That would be at least ten or more years ago but she looked barely over twenty to Dirge and if what she was saying was true she would have only been a little girl. He was about to speak when the thuwp, thuwp sound of rotor blades drawing closer caught their attention.

"The helicopter!" Seras stated before she spun and ran off up the steps. Dirge sprang out of the chair as well and followed her. Halfway up he was sure he heard the door being slid open and once he reach the top he was surprised to see it had been and Seras was outside. How the heck had she moved that door? Dirge wondered stopping to stare.

"Damn! Missed it." Seras sighed as the sound faded away. She was staring at the dwindling shape of the Black Hawk as it disappeared into the distance. Dirge looked at the area Seras was staring towards but could make out nothing in the darkness. The large zombie turned his attention to Seras knowing she was definitely more than she let on.

"Hmmm." Dirge pondered. "The only human settlement in that direction is settlement A-1."

"Settlement A-1?" Seras asked repeating Dirge.

"Otherwise known as the Acropolis. It's the only land based settlement within a hundred miles of here. If that chopper is going anywhere it'll be there." Dirge expanded.

Seras turned to face Dirge slowly, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You seem to know the area well."

"Well yeah, I...for want of a better word 'live' here. I've scavenged quite a few books from around the town and needed to know where the humans stay so I could avoid them. They don't go asking if you're sentient before firing you know." Dirge told the blond woman. "And I want to keep in one piece...well as much as I'm in one piece."

"Can you take us there?" Seras asked.

"Wha?" Dirge's jaw dropped open in surprise.

"Can you take us there?" Seras repeated.

"I heard the first time." Dirge stated reigning in his surprise. "You want me to take you two to the Acropolis? Me? A zombie?"

"Well yeah. You've admitted to knowing the area already and you know where this settlement is. It would make our trip much quicker if we had a guide and the quicker the trip the fewer zombies will get in the way." Seras told Dirge with a friendly smile. _And less temptation for me_, she quietly added to herself.

"I don't know…" Dirge frowned turning to examine one of the nearby graves. "Do you really need a monster to help you?" Dirge's mind and emotions began to tumble. All these years alone he had tried stayed out of the way of the humans, justifying that they would more than likely destroy him if he approached. He had resigned himself to this existence and spent all his time reading to pass the time, of which he had a lot of. Yet here was a human asking him for help, seemingly accepting him so easily.

"Hey…" Seras spoke placing a hand against Dirge's shoulder. Dirge saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, the only way he knew Seras had touched him as being dead removed all tactile senses. "The difference between humans and monsters isn't just in appearance. I've seen monsters that were more human than humans and met humans that were worse than monsters. Your actions prove you're human no matter your appearance. What you do defines you, not what you are." Seras' voice was firm as she spoke these words and Dirge felt Seras' conviction. Seras' words caused his spirits to rise as he stared at the blond woman who smiled up at him. "So will you help a little girl find her family?"

Dirge held Seras' gaze for a few seconds before standing to his full height and drawing a deep breath into his non-functioning lungs. A sudden sense of purpose entered Dirge's head and he swore that he would protect and guide these two to their destination.

"When do you want to set off?" Dirge asked.

"Right now." Seras beamed her smile seeming to lighten the entire cemetery to Dirge and he was certain she was an angel sent to guide him to redemption.

"Okay." Dirge rubbed his jaw in thought. "You go get the girl ready while I get my things." Dirge commanded. "Then the four of us can set off."

"Right!" Seras saluted and rushed ahead to wake Zoe. She smiled to herself, glad that Dirge was willing to drop everything and set off right at the moment. Seras was even more pleased that he had not suggested waiting till morning. In her current blood staved condition the day would make her very lethargic. She had blood packs in her backpack but had been forced to ration them due to finding healthy blood few and far between. Halfway down the steps Seras paused as Dirge's words finally registered in her head. _Wait, four?_

"Come on move it." Dirge stated as he passed Seras on the steps down to the crypt. Seras shook her head and decided to ask him once she got Zoe.

------------

Zoe felt the icy cold waters surround her as she floated downwards. Looking up she could make out the shape of her teddy bear as it too descended downwards. Above that the only light shone down into the chilling depths.

All around her shapes moved through the water, monsters. Lots of monsters. As her lungs began to burn from lack of air a voice called out.

"Zoe, wake up." Seras gently shook Zoe awake. The girl blinked her eyes in confusion. Where was she? Why couldn't she see out of one eye?

"Hey sweetie, we're going to go find your mom now." Seras told the sleepy girl and Zoe suddenly remembered where she was.

"Seras?" Zoe asked with a yawn while her blond rescuer began to unwrap the coat from around her. Once free from her makeshift covers Zoe hopped down to the ground and watched Seras put her coat back on. "We're going to find my mom?"

"Yep." Seras ruffled Zoe's hair as she passed by the little girl to pick up her large backpack again. Pulling her arms through the straps Seras smiled. "Dirge knows where the settlement is and has agreed to take us."

"The m…monster?" Zoe asked glancing around for the large zombie.

"Listen Zoe." Seras stated dropping to one knee in front of the girl and fussing over her clothes. "Dirge is not a monster okay. No matter what he looks like and it's because of him we're going to find your mom quickly so I want you to treat him like you do me. You don't want to hurt his feelings right?"

"Okay." Zoe replied.

"Good girl." Seras nodded then stood up and took Zoe's hand once more. "Let's go see if he's ready."

Seras led the purple-haired girl into the main area to see Dirge rummaging around on one of the makeshift shelves hidden behind a pile of books.

"Now where is it?" Dirge was heard mumbling before exclaiming "Ah ha!" in triumph. Seras watched on curious as Dirge retrieved a large metal spiked collar and clamped it around his neck with a loud clunk.

"Won't do any good without a head." Dirge stated once he saw Seras' and Zoe's confused expressions. "I'd like to see a sword that could cut through this."

Seras did not reply but she absently thought a certain paladin she once knew would have probably been able to do that. While Seras was pondering that, Dirge picked up a large thick chain and expertly whipped it around his chest forming a cross shaped loop. Seras absently thought the look suited him.

"You said the four of us back there." Seras stated wandering closer to Dirge as he walked over to the large glass cylinder.

"Indeed I did." Dirge proclaimed pulling on a lever. There was a clunk and the fluid in the container began to empty with a sound not unlike a toilet flushing. Once the fluid emptied Dirge opened the container and something from a horror movie padded out.

Seras stared at the creature that stood by Dirge as embalming fluids dripped from its matted and patched fur. The creature must have been a large scary dog in life but in death it had become far more frightening. Teeth sprouted from its muzzle in various directions as the zombie dog regarded them with unblinking eyes. The dog's fur had various patches of different colours and lots of stitches indicating that Dirge had patched the dog together more than once. In fact Seras thought that the dog resembled something that Dr. Frankenstein might have made.

"No Cerberus they aren't for eating." Dirge stated holding a hand towards the dog as it raised its head towards its master. Cerberus whined faintly at that.

"Is…is it dangerous?" Seras asked while Zoe hid herself behind Seras' legs. The dog's unblinking stare was creepy.

"Extremely." Dirge intoned leading Cerberus towards the way out.

"It won't attack us will it?" Seras asked engaging in a staring match with the zombie hound.

"No." Dirge stated. "Well, probably not. I think."

Seras turned to Dirge with an annoyed look. "You think?"

"Cerberus was a police dog in life. Extremely well trained, I trust him more than I do myself." Dirge stated.

"Well if you're sure." Seras spoke slowly not quite convinced yet.

"Cerberus comes in really handy. You'll see." Dirge stated convincingly as he turned to the exit. "Ah! Come here Faust." Dirge picked up his shovel and with expertly timed execution spun the shovel like a baton and dropped it behind his head where it came to rest against the links of the chain with a clank.

"You've named your shovel?" Seras asked surprised.

"Well…yeah." Dirge mumbled slightly embarrassed. "Don't you give pet names to your stuff?"

"Hehehe." Seras chuckled herself. "Does it…talk to you when you sleep?"

Dirge's face took on the look of someone who had been told something extremely stupid by someone normally extremely smart. "Are you mocking me?" Dirge asked confused. "And I don't sleep anyway."

"Eh? Oh no, no, no, no." Seras waved her hands to calm him down. "Sorry, sorry."

Dirge regarded Seras before speaking. "You really are a crazy chick, you know that?"

**Chapter 3**

Dirge poked his head out of the mausoleum first and glanced left then right. The cemetery was silent and nothing seemed to be moving under the light from the full moon. The barest of sea breezes drifted lightly in from the beach carrying the smell of the sea and making the faint mist that hung around the graves swirl by just the slightest amount.

Cerberus, the large zombie dog poked its hellish head out next and at Dirge's signal walked out to sniff around, now and then a faint tinkle from the collar that hung from the dog's neck could be heard. When Cerberus did not growl Dirge stepped out fully into the cemetery, satisfied that any zombies aside from themselves were not hanging around the immediate area.

"Okay you two, it's as safe as it gets." Dirge told the two females behind him.

Zoe poked her purple-haired head out next, leaning around the doorway to peer worriedly around the cemetery, her last experience out here still fresh in her mind. While Zoe was scanning the graves for surprises, Seras calmly stepped out into the moonlight. Seras did not bother looking around, she could already tell there was nothing dangerous to Zoe aside from herself and the dog, maybe Dirge himself but apart from that she was currently safe.

"It's a beautiful night don't you think." Seras stated staring up at the moon hanging in the sky, a faint smile playing on her lips as she remembered a similar night so many years ago.

"Huh uh." Dirge nodded absently not paying attention to Seras while he continued to check around. "If we hurry, I think we can make it there before dawn." The large zombie stated.

"Great." Seras grinned. "All the better. I don't move around much during the day."

Dirge raised half a hairless eyebrow as he pondered her meaning. Did she mean she felt safer moving at night? He knew from experience that though zombies could only see as well or worse depending on condition as normal people they mostly used their sense of smell to move around and track prey. Once a zombie smelt living flesh they would not stop coming until the smell vanished, either through the victim getting out of range or dying. With this in mind Dirge carefully checked the filter over the remains of his nose making sure it was jamming most of the scents. He knew the effects the smell of the living had all too well and was glad for the ionic scent filter. Without it he feared for the girl and Seras, unsure if he could resist the temptation. Cerberus had no such device, but Dirge was certain the dog's training would not allow it to attack without being commanded no matter what.

"Are there zombies outside?" Zoe asked innocently still hiding half around the doorway.

"There's..." both Seras and Dirge began to speak. The pair realising they were both about to say the same thing paused and looked at each other.

"Go on." Seras smiled. "I know you're dying to say it."

"Bah, the mood's ruined now." Dirge grumbled shrugging his broad shoulders.

Zoe glanced around once more before hurriedly making her way over to stand beside Seras. Seras smiled at the girl as she continued to glance around.

"What if the zombies find me?" Zoe asked her voice quivering, letting them know how scared she was.

"Then they'll find me." Dirge stated firmly.

"And me." Seras grinned ferally revealing her fangs much to Dirge's surprise at how large Seras' canines were. "They have to go through us first before they can come after you Zoe."

"Promise?" Zoe asked.

"Promise." Seras replied.

"Same." Dirge stated. "Now let's get moving before any do arrive."

Soon the ragtag group had left the cemetery by the road that ran up to the cemetery and ran mostly parallel with the coastal highway and began making their way towards the mountain range just beyond the city. Dirge was concerned about having to travel through the city, after all a large amount of the population had died there becoming zombies. Hopefully they could move quickly enough that the zombies would not keep up. As they walked along the road a thick fog began gathering and soon obscured the view ahead.

Soon, with a little bit of encouragement from Seras, Zoe began to talk to them both and Dirge found himself almost wishing that the little girl had stayed afraid of him once the innocent questions of a six year old began.

"Where are we going?"

"To the mountains, the settlement is there." Dirge stated as he led the procession along the road, carefully checking the trees by the road for movement.

"How long will it take?"

"A few hours, if we're lucky." Dirge told Zoe.

Zoe went silent for a minute as she stared at Dirge, before the questions started again. "Where's your ears?"

"What?" Dirge stumbled nearly falling at hearing the strangest thing he had ever been asked. He stared at Zoe who was waiting patiently for him to answer, her large eyes sparkling with interest. "Err...they fell off."

"Did it hurt?"

"No."

"Oh." Zoe pondered something. "Did you keep them and put them under your pillow? Like with teeth?"

"Why would I?" Dirge asked giving a glare at Seras as she was chuckling quietly away to herself in the background. _This is all your fault_, Dirge thought to himself continuing to direct a glare at Seras. Looking down to Zoe, who had positioned herself next to him now that she knew he was friendly, Dirge spoke again. "You know...if you keep talking like that the zombies will find us quicker."

"But you're here to protect me right? You'll beat any zombies right up." Zoe proclaimed happily. "So it doesn't matter."

"Haha!" Seras laughed. "Can't argue with little girl logic."

Dirge was sure one of his eyes had begun twitching in frustration and grumbled away to himself. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Zoe was winding up for another question. He braced himself.

"Did your nose fall off too?"

"Yes." Dirge sighed stretching the word out.

"Oh..." Zoe cocked her head thinking. "How do you smell then?"

"Terrible!" Seras laughed behind them. Zoe looked back at Seras not getting the joke while Dirge glared even harder. If he could feel pain he was sure he would have a stress headache coming on.

"You are not helping." Dirge informed the laughing blond.

"Sorry." Seras giggled before looking at Dirge slyly. "I got one for you."

"Oh hell no." Dirge stated slapping a hand against his face in frustration.

"Don't swear!" Zoe pointed out angrily surprising Dirge.

"Sorry." the large frustrated zombie grumbled.

"How'd you talk so well without lips?" Seras asked smirking.

"Arrgghh!" Dirge slapped both hands against his head and spun on them. "Please! Please stop asking questions. Okay?"

"Okay." Both Seras and Zoe stated.

"Good." Dirge stated actually surprised when the pair went silent. For a minute they travelled in silence and Dirge felt himself relaxing slightly.

"Did your hair fall out too?" Zoe asked.

"Gah!" Dirge's shoulders stiffened and he began grumbling away to himself in irritation. "Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why?"

"To save me the trouble of tearing it out I suppose." Dirge answered with a sigh giving in.

As the group continued forward a large shape appeared before them and Dirge held his hand out to signal they were stopping. Dirge walked a little closer and found a police car. The others all moved up behind him and as a group passed slowly by. Dirge made sure to check in the cars as they passed them.

They soon passed more cars, all with their doors wide open. Their owners had abandoned them in a hurry it seemed. After passing four more cars they came across an old 1951 Cadillac Hearse.

"That was well looked after." Seras pointed out. "It's got to be nearly a hundred years old. At least before the outbreak."

"Yeah." Dirge agreed walking up to the hearse and inspecting the inside. There was a coffin hanging half out of the car. It was empty. "That wouldn't have been pretty."

Seras paused as she heard and sensed the telltale signs of zombie hordes approaching. She reached into her trenchcoat and withdrew the pair of custom made guns she had had made a few years before the outbreak. Both oversized and modelled after the ones her former master had enjoyed.

"Dirge." Seras stated drawing his attention. "We've got company."

"Wha? I don't think so. Cerberus would...have..." Dirge stated and trailed off when he saw the guns Seras had pulled out and his jaw dropped threatened to unhinge. Dirge's jaw snapped shut with a click.

"What the hell are those...things?" Dirge asked in disbelief pointing at the monstrosities that Seras was wielding. Both guns had barrels well over a foot long and could only be described as black and chunky. Hugely reinforced. Dirge guessed the bullets that were fired from them must be at least thirty millimetre rounds.

"Just keep near Zoe." Seras growled seriously.

"Listen, Seras. If zombies were near Cerberus would warn me." Dirge tried to calm Seras down. It was at that moment that Cerberus began growling, rumbling like a demented chainsaw and Dirge swore in surprise. _She was right_?

Seras stared into the fog and watched the approaching shapes. Zombies and lots of them, more than she had bullets to take care of and there were surely more approaching all the time. Once one got the scent they all seemed to gravitate towards their prey like a pack of wolves. She needed a plan.

"Dirge! See if the car works." Seras commanded scrambling over but keeping her guns aimed perfectly at the nearest targets.

"The car?" Dirge paused in the motion of reaching for his shovel. "Oh! Right!" Realising what Seras was hoping for he grabbed hold of Zoe and rushed with her around to the driver side. Almost tossing the frightened girl into the passenger seat Dirge dived into the car and shut the door. "Wind the window up Zoe." the large zombie commanded and the girl obeyed even as he checked for the keys. They were in luck, the keys were still in the ignition and Dirge turned them. The engine spluttered but did not start.

Outside Seras heard the engine turn but it did not start and she cursed.

"Well dog." Seras spoke towards Cerberus "Looks like we need to buy some time." With that said Seras switched her aim away from the zombies and towards one of the cars nearest the largest clump of approaching corpses. She pulled the trigger.

With a boom that sounded like thunder the gun fired and the car she had aimed for exploded in a giant fireball as the remaining petrol went up. Zombie and car parts rained down as Seras once again fired the gun hitting another car with the same results.

Zoe had covered her ears and shrieked when the explosions began, cowering in the seat. Dirge stared out the rear of the hearse, his eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets as Seras' guns once more went off with a noise that Dirge thought only belonged to a tank or rocket launcher.

"Get the car started!" Seras shouted over the explosions while Cerberus dived in the back. Seras proceeded to shoot into the still advancing crowd, one shot smashing through at least four tightly packed zombies.

Dirge turned the key once again and once again the engine spluttered but did not turn over.

"Damn it!" Dirge hit the steering wheel in annoyance. Outside he could see the shapes moving towards them, behind them the loud retort of Seras' guns echoed. Dirge glanced at Zoe who was huddled in the seat holding her hands over her ears and staring up at him pleadingly. Dirge looked around and swore in anger and embarrassment. The car was in park. Quickly knocking it to neutral he turned the key once more and the engine roared into life.

"Get in!" Dirge shouted at Seras who jumped backwards into the hearse still firing her guns. Dirge marvelled at the accuracy of each shot she fired, even flying backwards like something from a John Woo film Seras hit a zombie or two with each shot.

"Go!" Seras roared as she landed in the hearse and Dirge threw the car into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

"Seatbelt!" Dirge suggested to Zoe as the hearse lurched backwards before slamming into the car behind. As the hearse hit the car Seras was flung violently out and slammed into the windscreen. Dirge swore and hit the brakes.

"Seras!" Dirge and Zoe exclaimed as the blond sat up seemingly none the worse for wear. She shook her head once before diving head first back into the hearse. She rolled over and disengaged herself from her backpack to rush forward to slam the rear door tightly shut.

"Drive!" Seras commanded and Dirge obeyed shifting into drive and once more slamming his foot down. The hearse lurched forward right into the waiting crowd of zombies. Bodies went flying, body parts went hurtling past the windows. Zoe screamed while Dirge swore as the windscreen became coated in thick black zombie fluids blocking his vision.

"Stop! The road's blocked with cars!" Seras shouted appearing beside Dirge's head.

"What!?" Dirge roared. "How can you tell?"

"Hit the brakes! Turn us around!"

Dirge knowing no better did as Seras asked and twisted the wheel violently. The hearse squealed to a halt as it spun one eighty degrees and stopped. Dirge glanced out of the passenger window to see that Seras had been correct. The road was blocked with cars and he made a mental note to find out how.

A decayed face suddenly slammed against the window sending Zoe shrieking once more and prompting Dirge to once again slam the accelerator pedal. The car shot forward with a squeal as he yanked the wheel around to send them racing down the road the way they had came. Dirge was once again driving blind and hoped Seras could somehow see where they were going. The thud of bodies hitting the car echoed almost rhythmically as they shot down the road.

Seras stared ahead and saw a big problem approaching. The road curved and she realised they would not be able to stop in time.

"Oh crap." Seras stated as the hearse left the road, crossed the uneven grass and then shot off the edge of the cliff. Fortunately for them the cemetery road ran parallel to the highway and the hearse plunged straight through an overhead sign, glanced off the surface of an overpass and slammed onto the highway. Dirge tried to push the brake pedal through the floor and fought with the steering wheel as the car spun in circles before slamming bonnet first into a barricade. Dirge and Zoe were both thrown forward in their seats but fortunately had their seatbelts on. Seras however was not so lucky and was thrown forward to smash headfirst into the dash, coming to rest hanging haphazardly between Dirge and Zoe.

Zoe righted herself gasping for breath in shock while Dirge stared at Seras' unmoving body a sombre expression on his dead face. He felt a bolt of fear run through him as Seras twitched. Had he killed her?

Seras finally moved her hands placing them on the dash either side of her head and pushed herself up slowly with a groan. Her head hurt like hell from the impact and felt…squishy? Seras poked the damaged area experimentally and groaned again, this time in annoyance not pain. Her skull had caved in from the impact against the dash and she silently cursed zombie drivers even as she began repairing the damage to it hoping to complete the repairs before Zoe or even Dirge saw.

Seras turned her head slightly to the right and her eyes met Zoe's. The girl was staring wide eyed as the blood on the dash evaporated, turning to a black mist that was sucked back into the blond and then the nasty looking indent on Seras' forehead slowly popped back into shape and even the bruise faded.

"Seras?" Zoe stuttered watching Seras enraptured at the bizarre sight.

"I'm fine Zoe." Seras stated as she pulled herself back and rubbed the impact site. Turning to Dirge Seras threw him a dirty look. "Have you even driven a car before?"

"Phew." Dirge finally let out the air he had unconsciously held in his dead lungs in a parody of holding his breath. His relief turned to indignation at Seras' accusation. "Probably." Dirge stated indignantly.

"Probably." Seras repeated her voice like ice and pointed at Zoe. "Your crazy driving could have killed her."

"Hey!" Dirge shot back. "I'd like to see you do better when you can't feel the pedals! Or see out of the bloody and I mean that literally windscreen."

"Out!" Seras commanded with a glare.

"What?" Dirge replied dumbly.

"Move it. I'm driving from now on." Seras stated leaving no room for argument.

"Fine." Dirge grumbled unbuckling the seatbelt and popping the door open. Seras climbed over the seats as Dirge moved around the car grumbling the entire way. She pulled the driver side door shut with a deep thunk and put the seatbelt on as Dirge opened the backdoor and climbed in.

"Let's see if this car starts again," Seras stated turning the key and was rewarded with the engine spluttering back to life. "Guess they don't make them like they used too."

Seras placed the car in reverse and gently eased the hearse backwards, built a little more speed up and slammed on the brakes.

"Whoa!" Dirge was thrown backwards in the back and glared forward at the blond. "Okay, okay, you've made your point!"

"Point?" Seras asked innocently grinning over her shoulder. "I was testing the brakes, making sure they're still working."

Seras turned her attention to the car controls and sought out the windscreen washers. Pulling a lever she was rewarded with the sound of motors whirling and the wipers began to slowly chew their way through the thick black tar-like mess on the windscreen.

"Well, looks like someone's wrecked the headlights." Flicking another lever Seras shook her head. "I'm surprised this is even still running after that drop."

"Yeah, yeah, keep rubbing it in." Dirge's grinning skull appeared in the corner of Seras' vision. "Check the glove box Zoe."

"This?" Zoe asked pointing at the compartment.

"Yeah that's it." Dirge confirmed while Seras put the hearse into drive, gave the engine an experimental rev and slowly allowed the vehicle to trundle forward. Seras decided to keep the speed down and listened out for any telltale signs that would indicate the car was about to breakdown. Zoe meanwhile had opened the glove box and rummaged around to retrieve a torch and a map which she passed to the waiting zombie.

"Thanks squirt." Dirge stated taking the torch and map. Pressing the button to the on position, he was rewarded with a dull light. It was not much but it was enough to allow him to scan the map. Dirge frowned as he scanned the map. During the war against the zombies the military had used bombs on the cities and roads. Dirge knew this and it made the map more than probably useless as often nine out of ten roads would be block with debris.

"Where am I heading?" Seras asked watching the large zombie in the rear-view mirror.

"Head towards DC. We need to pass through there and go towards the mountain ranges. We'll be looking for a Longdarque Memorial Tunnel. The settlement should be beyond that." Dirge stated tracing what he hoped was a clear route.

The group fell into silence while Seras navigated the abandoned cars on the highway. They had been lucky so far that there were plenty of gaps to squeeze the hearse through. Seras hoped their luck would hold out.

Zoe was staring out the passenger window watching the dark and unfamiliar shapes as they passed by. Dirge placed the map down and looked out the windscreen. Squinting he could barely make out the shapes of abandoned cars without the hearse's headlight and yet Seras was easily manoeuvring them around them. Dirge began to watch her intently.

"What's up?" Seras asked noticing Dirge watching her from the rear-view mirror.

"Can you even see anything?" Dirge asked the blond driver.

"I see everything." Seras replied putting on an Austrian accent and a smirk. Neither Dirge nor Zoe picked up the reference to an old film.

"How? I can barely see anything." Dirge asked frowning. He began thinking on all the other strange little things he had noticed about Seras. "And you're way stronger than a normal human." Dirge stated picking up one of Seras' guns that was lying on the floor and examining it. Even he could tell it was heavy and the recoil? Dirge could not even begin to imagine what the kick of those beasts would feel like.

"I'll tell you later." Seras spoke inclining her head slightly towards Zoe. Dirge noticed the faint movement and guessed Seras did not want Zoe to hear what she would say.

"You better." Dirge stated, his curiosity would have to wait he decided. At least until they got Zoe to safety. _Maybe some kind of cyborg? Or DNA alteration?_ Dirge thought silently.

"My mom told me about the wasteland." Zoe spoke distracting the others from their thoughts. The little girl was still staring out the window trying to imagine the shapes outside the way her mother had said they looked. "She said it used to be pretty and lots of green."

"Apparently." Dirge stated with a sad sigh. "I don't know myself. I can't remember."

Cerberus placed his muzzle on Dirge's leg sensing his master's sadness and let out a faint whine. Dirge patted Cerberus absently; neither could actually feel it though and Dirge was reminded of what he was missing.

"It was once." Seras spoke up. "It used to be very green…well in places where people had not ruined it. Full of life. Even so, it still had its darkness even back then. Just it was mostly hidden away from normal people, but now and then it would rear its ugly head."

"And you worked for a group that kept it that way right? A dedicated few that looked after the many." Dirge surmised.

"Yeah." Seras agreed. "At least before…London."

"The zombies came?" Zoe asked curious.

"Pretty much." Seras replied not mentioning it was not the same zombies.

"Why do zombies eat people?" Zoe asked.

"I once thought it was for survival." Seras spoke first. "You know, like people and…other things need to eat…but they rot anyway whether they find food or not. It's like their only purpose is to destroy life."

"It is their purpose. To eat people that is. Then fade away." Dirge spoke. "Some say it's the way the world heals itself, to start over again."

Seras glanced at Dirge in the rear-view mirror, his face hidden in the shadows but she could see the sad look on his decayed features. Seras felt an overwhelming sadness inside as she watched Dirge. _Poor guy. He's worse off then even I am_.

"What's your purpose?" Zoe asked Dirge curious and slightly scared of how he might answer.

Dirge looked at Zoe intently causing the little girl to squirm before he spoke. "I'll tell you when I find out."

"Dirge?" Seras asked catching his attention. "How many people were in the city we're heading into?"

"I dunno. A few million to hazard a guess." The big zombie replied thinking.

"That's not very comforting." Seras said guessing you could probably cut that number into a quarter depending on how many had decayed beyond the point of being a threat. That still left a very large amount of possible zombies in the city.

"I know. It's amazing that there are any human survivors at all." Dirge shook his head in amazement. "How many would just give up knowing that no matter how hard they fought in the end they would join the zombie ranks when they finally died."

"That's humans for you. The human will to live, to survive no matter what the odds." Seras grinned her fangs flashing in the mirror. "Only a human can destroy a monster." Seras then smiled at Zoe. "You should never underestimate a human right Zoe. They have a tendency to surprise you."

"Yeah!" Zoe agreed feeling embolden by Seras' speech.

"And what of me?" Dirge pondered.

"You're not a monster." Seras stated. "I know what _real_ a monster is."

"Yeah Dirge!" Zoe spoke as her little hands and face popped over the seat to look back at the big zombie with a smile. "You're cool."

At Zoe's acceptance of himself Dirge felt a feeling he had never thought to ever feel. Happiness. He was happy for the first time since he woke to this existence he felt happy knowing that there were two special people in the world who wanted him.

"Thanks." Dirge said happily before speaking loudly and firmly to Zoe. "Now sit down and put your seatbelt back on. I'm not going through all this trouble just for you to end up flying through the windscreen!"

Seras grinned as the little girl yelped and rushed to put her seatbelt back on. A sudden flash of blue behind them caught Seras' attention and she glanced back. Dirge blinked and looked behind them wondering what had caught Seras' attention. Whatever it was he was not going to dismiss it as nothing as Seras had already proven to be a better early warning system than even Cerberus was.

"What is it?" Dirge asked seeing nothing but darkened road trailing behind them.

"I could have sworn something was watching us." Seras frowned extending her senses but finding nothing unusual.

"A zombie?" Zoe asked looking out the window.

"No…I don't think so…" Seras spoke slowly unsure if she had even sensed anything. "It's gone now whatever it was."

Behind them and high in the air something black and vaguely insect like hovered on thin transparent wings that fluttered rapidly. One large blue lens focused on the hearse that was making its way towards the city. The drone began sending information back as it trailed the car.

**Chapter 4**

Seras guided the now battered hearse down the darkened highway, avoiding the many abandoned cars, some overturned and others burnt out. Now and then she had to move the car around large craters in the road's surface; obviously left from detonations from large artillery shells. Made all the more obvious by the burnt remains lying near by.

Spotting something interesting up ahead Seras slowed down to pull up beside an abandoned M1A1 Abrams tank. The tank had spots of rust and was half off the highway, a few dark stains covered the treads indicating it had been used to run over organic matter.

"What's up?" Dirge asked leaning to look out the window at the hulking shape.

"A very useful find." Seras replied shifting the car into neutral.

Seras opened the door and got out of the hearse. A quick look around revealed nothing moving and she then leant down to look in at her passengers. "Watch Zoe for me. I'll be right back."

With that said Seras shut the door with a clunk and jogged over to the abandoned tank. With a leap that looked casually easy Seras hopped up onto the tank and made her way over to the hatches. Popping her knuckles, Seras leant down griped the edges of one of the hatches and with a grunt ripped the hatch open.

The first thing to assault her was the stench of decomposition and even she felt a faint urge to gag. Obviously the crew was still in there, whether they were moving was another matter. Seras looked down to see the bodies. One twitched but the other three remained unmoving, too far gone.

"Ah!" Seras grinned spotting what she was after and reached into the cramped confines.

Meanwhile in the hearse, Dirge took advantage of the stop to pop his collar open and laid it on the floor. Zoe looked over the seat curiously as the large zombie began rummaging in the small pack he was carrying.

Dirge pulled out a large syringe full of green liquid and with precision born through practice he jabbed it into his neck and slowly injected the fluid. Once empty he roughly yanked the syringe out and replaced it in the bag, zipping it up once more.

"Does that hurt?" Zoe asked wincing at the sight.

"No." Dirge told her. "Nothing hurts anymore when you're dead."

"Really?" Zoe asked. "I wish my head didn't hurt."

"You've got a headache?" Dirge asked the girl while clamping his spiked collar back on.

"Yeah."

"Good." Dirge exclaimed as if it was the best thing in the world.

"Why?" Zoe asked confused.

"Because it means you're still alive." Dirge told her comfortingly.

It was right then that the rear door of the hearse was yanked open making Zoe jump and causing Dirge and Cerberus to glare. Seras' grinning face appeared and she began unloading all the anti-personnel shells she had recovered from the tank.

"What are you doing?" Dirge asked Seras who looked like a kid in a candy store. Dirge picked up one of the shells in confusion.

"Found some ammo for Harkonnen." Seras continued grinning manically. "I'd ran out a while back and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find suitable shells."

"Who or what is Harkonnen?" Dirge asked wondering if he really wanted to know.

"My _big_ gun." Seras grinned indicating the backpack which Dirge in his curiosity reached over and unzipped coming face to face with the business end of a barrel that was large enough to put his fist down. Dirge's jaw dropped open once again. Seras seemed to have this effect on him.

"I had to get him altered over time. He's in quick to assemble pieces now as carrying him about in one piece looked too suspicious when people were around. He's rather large." Seras explained reaching down and lifting into sight the salvaged .50 calibre M2 machine gun and the relevant ammo. This too was dumped in the back with Dirge who slowly zipped the back pack up.

"That's…that's…you…crazy…guns." Dirge mumbled in shock.

"Cute isn't he." Seras kept grinning before shutting the door and skipping happily around to the driver side and getting back in. She soon began humming merrily as the group once more headed towards the city. In the back Dirge looked at the gun Seras had dropped in, while Cerberus sniffed the weapon in interest. If he did not know any better he would swear the gun had been twisted off of whatever it had once been mounted to.

A few minutes into the journey a loud gurgling growl echoed around the car and it did not come from Cerberus. All eyes turned to Zoe who held her hands over her stomach and shied away under the attention.

"You're hungry right?" Seras asked the little girl who nodded.

"Yeah."

"When did you last eat something?" Dirge asked.

"I don't know." Zoe replied.

"You must have something to eat in your pack right Seras?" Dirge turned to the driver.

"No…nothing that a human can eat." Seras stated slowly. "Well, nothing suitable for Zoe anyway."

"You…walk around outside and have nothing to eat?" Dirge pointed out. "Nothing at all?"

"Sorry." Seras stated. "I don't need to eat much myself, just enough to keep going."

"Why?" Zoe asked.

"Most normal food makes me ill." Seras said with a shrug. "I've got a very narrow diet that I can actually digest. Most liquids are okay though."

_Definitely genetic alteration_, Dirge decided upon hearing Seras' explanation.

"Seras, look out for a drive-in or gas station." Dirge told her moving over to look out the side windows.

"What about a circus?" Seras asked pointing in the distance. Dirge glanced that way and saw a lit sign flicker in the distance, one that read in bright letters the word circus. He stared interested as the power still seemed to be on.

"That'll do." Dirge stated. "If no sappers have already trashed the place."

"What's a sapper?" Zoe asked looking back at Dirge.

"A human or group of humans that roam around the wastelands," Seras explained. "Sometimes they attack other groups for fun. They're like gangs from the older days." Seras thought back to some of her own encounters with the crazies that lived outside. Some of them had ended up on her menu after they mistook her for someone vulnerable. "I've had…experiences with them."

"Me too." Dirge stated. "It's never pretty."

The circus was easy to find as there were plenty of signs indicating the greatest show on earth and all the usual promotional stuff. Seras was soon slowing the car down as they crossed the almost empty lot that must have been set up for parking. As they drew closer they could make out the brightly coloured tents and rows of empty dark stalls. Above most tents flags flapped in the wind, making the only sound heard.

Seras parked the car and switched off the engine sending the area silent once more, aside from the faint clicking of metal cooling. The atmosphere of the place was spooky Seras thought, a stark contrast to what it should have been. A bright colourful and full of fun place that should be filled with noise, music and shrieks of laughter was utterly silent and dark.

Dirge exited the car and walked around to the driver side. Seras wound the window down when he tapped it lightly.

"You two stay in the car. There's bound to be zombies about and at least keeping the windows shut should buy me enough time to find anything edible." Dirge explained.

"Are you sure there'll be something she can eat?" Seras asked. "I don't want to give her food poisoning by eating anything past its sell by date."

"Hey, the stuff sold at these places is just full of e numbers and preservatives. If we can't find edible food here we'll not find it anywhere else." Dirge explained nodding his head.

"Fine, but if she starts bouncing from the roof, you're looking after her." Seras groaned imagining Zoe on a sugar rush.

"Whatever." Dirge stated. "Cerberus, guard the girl."

The zombie dog padded over to place its large ragged muzzle over the seats between Seras and Zoe at Dirge's command.

"Stay in the car." Dirge commanded while Seras wound the window back up. Soon the large zombie disappeared from sight around one of the tents leaving Seras and Zoe alone with the unblinking zombie dog.

Seras finding she had nothing to concentrate on now, what with not driving and just waiting became acutely aware of the young girl next to her. Seras could hear the blood rushing through Zoe's veins, the pure virgin blood that called out to her. Seras groaned in annoyance as her vampiric hunger came back on full force. She needed to feed.

"Where're you going?" Zoe asked warily as Seras popped the seatbelt off and pulled on the door handle.

"I need to find something I can eat before I do something I'll regret." Seras stated not looking at Zoe and getting out the car. She did not want to leave the girl alone with the dog but she had no choice. Seras prayed that Dirge was correct about Cerberus.

"But Dirge said…" Zoe began but Seras cut her off.

"He was talking to you. Now stay in the car." Seras growled before glaring at the dog which stared back. "You better guard her or else you'll see hell." Seras warned slamming the door with a little more force than she meant. Cerberus whined. The strange undead lady actually scared it. Zoe heard the rear door open and Seras rummaged around in her back pack before shutting that door and disappearing into the night.

Seras quickly placed some distance between herself and car, almost running into what must have been the main area of the circus. She quickly entered the bigtop and stood in the darkness inside. The floor was littered with rubbish, as were the seats. Various once bright coloured cartons and packets now lay a soggy mess and Seras could smell old dried blood and rubbish.

Not paying attention to the area she ripped the packet of chilled blood open and began guzzling it down. Normally she could have gone for a while longer before feeding but being so close to a living person was speeding up the process. Especially a young and healthy one. The blood was cold but at least it took the edge off of her hunger.

Soon, too soon for Seras the blood pack was empty and she tossed it away, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand she paused suddenly realising she was not alone. Slowly turning she saw the various shapes moving in the centre of the tent, shambling towards her.

Seras cursed, the smell of blood must have attracted them. Looking at the approaching horde of zombies Seras sighed. They were mostly dressed in tattered, brightly coloured clown suits aside from the various stains that decorated them. Their faces decayed, but still covered in their makeup giving them an even scarier appearance than a normal zombie. Bright smiles covered in dried blood.

A zombie that must have once been an acrobat shambled forward to grope for the blood pack, its head hanging at an angle that should be impossible. It managed to pick the pack off the ground, examined it curiously before dropping it and turning towards Seras. The group as one seemed to sniff the air as if wondering what was standing before them. Then as one they seemed to lurch forward.

Seras sighed again. Seems they had mistaken her for a living person again. _It must be the fresh blood_, Seras thought turning to exit but the loud growl and the huge undead animal she came face to face with blocked her exit.

"Oh bloody 'ell." Seras stated staring into the glassy eyes of an enormous undead Bengal tiger.

------------

Dirge paused. He thought he had heard a roar echoing on the wind. Well whatever it was made it all the more important to find the food and get out of there. He had seen many shambling shapes in the distance as he wandered around the brightly painted stalls, covered in stuffed toys of various descriptions.

Finally spotting what he was looking for Dirge let out a triumphant "Ah ha!" and picked up the pace. Quickly he wandered over to the large building with a large plastic ice-cream cone above it. Walking around to the rear he saw the door was still shut and locked. That was good, meant sappers had not been here yet as they generally would not leave a door locked.

With a good kick the door flew off its hinges and allowed Dirge access to the inside. The large zombie stepped inside and looked around. Lots of sweets, cakes and various flavours of chips lined the shelves most in seal bags.

"Bingo!" Dirge exclaimed as he set about collecting as many random packets as possible. He actually felt ill at the thought of eating this stuff and yet the thought of a dying bleeding human made him salivate.

Dirge knelt down, sticking his head under the shelf to get at some packets of gelatine shapes.

"Can I have the pink ones?" Zoe's voice rang out behind him sending Dirge standing up to bash his head with a dull clonk.

"What the?" Dirge retracted his head and spun on the purple-haired girl and stared in shock. Slapping a hand to his face he pulled it down in frustration.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the car?" Dirge growled.

"You left me with a zombie dog!" Zoe glared hands on hips.

"I left you in a car! With Seras!" Dirge glanced around looking for the blond. "Where is she?"

"Seras left me." Zoe mumbled.

"What?" Dirge asked again not believing what he was hearing. Did no one listen to him? "Why?"

"She said she was hungry and had to find something before she regretted doing something." Zoe explained trying to remember the words Seras had used. Dirge paused at hearing those words and wondered. They seemed frightfully familiar to himself.

"Where's Cerberus?" Dirge asked and a muzzle popped around the doorway. The huge zombie dog look almost apologetic towards its master. "Here." Dirge said thrusting the bag of pink cotton candy Zoe had asked for into her hands. "Don't tell your mom. Now let's get back to car and find Seras."

Zoe giggled as she found her way into the packet and began shovelling handfuls of the years old pink fluff into her mouth. Dirge glanced around in readiness as the zombies would surely have picked up the girl's scent by now. He hoped the multitude of tents, booths and rides would slow them down. Zombies were not usually very good navigators.

There was a definite roar in the distance this time and Dirge turned towards the sound. Cerberus was growling his fur sticking up like spiked railings. A second roar this time of a different timber went off and Dirge decided it would be pertinent not to hang around picked up Zoe.

"What is it?" Zoe asked as the large zombie began making his way quickly back to the car, Cerberus loping along beside him.

"I don't know and I have no intention of finding out." Dirge explained rounding a tent and spotting the hearse. Running over he placed Zoe back in the passenger seat and stated firmly "Stay in the car!" and shut the door. Cerberus looked at his master while Dirge glanced around looking for any signs of Seras.

"Cerberus, find Seras!" Dirge commanded seeing no sign of the blond. Cerberus began sniffing around before taking off. Dirge followed with a look back at the hearse. Zoe's face was staring out the window at them, a blurry pale patch within the blackness and he felt extremely worried about leaving her alone.

Cerberus suddenly paused and began growling, zombie dog drool dripping from his fangs which caused Dirge to pull up and reach for his shovel. A shape stumbled towards them into the light and Dirge gasped.

Seras stood on wobbly legs as she stumbled forward, her eyes unfocused and her skin very pale. Dirge could see what appeared to be black veins running across her face and she groaned. She seemed to have sensed them and turned towards them.

"No." Dirge dragged out in abject horror as what appeared to be a fresh victim of Nekrosis stumbled towards them. Dirge gripped his shovel tighter and hoped Zoe could not see this from the hearse as he got ready to put Seras down. The only thing he could do for her now he thought.

Seras suddenly stopped and her eyes seemed to focus on him, seemingly to stare right through him before she shuddered and coughed.

"Seras?" Dirge asked as Seras clutched her stomach in pain and retched. Dirge went to step forward knowing zombies did not feel pain but before he could move closer Seras' eyes bulged as well as her cheeks before she spewed forth a massive load of black tar-like substance that splattered onto the ground.

"Urrg." Dirge exclaimed glad for once he had not eaten for a long time as Seras dropped to her hands and knees and continued retching and coughing up black globules. Her shoulders shook as she spat the last pieces on the ground and glared at the offending mess she had produced.

"Seras?" Dirge asked stepping up to her.

"Urrrg." Seras groaned. "That was not fun."

"What the hell was that?" Dirge asked reaching down to help her up. Seras struggled to stand and it was only through Dirge's help she managed. Cerberus sniffed at the mess curious before deciding it was not nice and walked away from it.

"I ate a lot of somethings well past their sell by date." Seras moaned leaning against Dirge. Her skin was still pale and covered in blackened veins but she seemed to be returning to herself.

"What the hell did you eat? Zombies?" Dirge asked jokingly trying to lighten the mood not knowing how right he was. "I thought you'd died."

At Dirge's question Seras gagged again, being reminded did not help. "You're gonna have to drive." Seras groaned out as Dirge began helping her across the empty lot towards the hearse. "I'm gonna be out of it for a while."

"Right. I'll put you in the front between Zoe and me so you can see for me." Dirge said.

"No!" Seras said firmly. "Not near Zoe."

"What? Why? Are you contagious?" Dirge asked worried for Zoe's health.

"Yeah actually." Seras stated. "But it's not that. Just put me in the back...you'll have to make it without me for a while."

After what seemed an agonisingly long time they finally made it to the hearse and Dirge opened the rear door. Seras struggled into the rear and collapsed against the side lying limply. Dirge stared, a look of concern decorating his face while Cerberus hopped in and curled up at the back of the front seats and watched Seras.

"Seras?" Zoe asked questionably looking into the back. "Is she ok?" Zoe asked Dirge when Seras did not answer.

"I honestly don't know." Dirge stated watching Seras carefully.

"Dirge." Seras finally moved, her voice little more than a whisper.

"What is it?"

"Go in my pack." Seras asked. "There's a coolbox with some packets in there. Please get me one."

Dirge frowned but climbed in to reach the back pack.

"Not that zipper. The other." Seras stated raising her hand limply to point at the correct zipper.

"This one?" Dirge asked and Seras nodded in confirmation. Dirge unzipped the side compartment and found the box Seras was wanting. Drawing it out he opened it and let a gasp of surprise out at the sight. He knew what blood looked like and the packets in the box were full of it.

"What is it?" Zoe asked.

"Nothing." Dirge lied as he picked one of the packets up and examined it. Property of Greenhill Hospital, blood type A. Dirge stared and slowly shut the box lid. Seras held her hand out greedily as Dirge passed the packet to her and stared in wonder and shock as she bit into the tube at the top and began sucking on it like you might with a juice drink.

"Are you going to explain?" Dirge asked narrowing his eyes as Seras devoured the blood like, well a zombie devouring flesh. Seras finished the pack, leaving not a drop in it and tossed the empty packet out the car before speaking.

"You've probably guessed by now." Seras stated her voice sounding stronger already. "I'm not human."

"Yeah, you do a lousy job of hiding it." Dirge stated folding his arms and glaring. "You ain't no zombie so what the devil are you?"

"I'll tell you while we're driving okay. We're putting Zoe in danger hanging around." Seras said leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Dirge noticed for the first time that Seras was not breathing and wondered how he had missed that little fact.

Dirge shut the rear door quietly and walked over to the driver side one. Opening it he got back in the hearse and started the engine. Staring in front he was pleased that the moon had come out from behind the clouds again and hoped it stayed that way. Soon they were moving again, slowly as Dirge knew he could not see as well as Seras seemed able to.

"Well?" Dirge asked once they had rejoined the highway. In the back Seras sighed before speaking.

"I'll start at the beginning I guess." Seras stated. "My name is Victoria Seras, everyone just calls me Seras though. I joined the police force at eighteen wanting to follow in my dad's footsteps. One night we got a call about a terrorist that had captured a small village. We of course went in and we found the entire village was dead." Seras sighed again turning to look towards Dirge. Dirge was glancing between the road and the rear-view mirror and Zoe was staring intently over the seat at her. Even Cerberus seemed to be listening.

"I sense a but coming." Dirge said.

"Yeah, the villagers were all dead. But they weren't still." Seras confirmed.

"Zombies?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah. Zombies." Seras stated. "I don't really know how but I managed to escape into the woods for awhile until I ran into the vampire in control."

"Vampire?" Dirge spoke up his voice laced with disbelief.

"Yes. Vampire." Seras replied. "No more crazy than zombies right. Or intelligent zombies."

"I..." Dirge looked forward frowning. "I guess."

"What's a vampire?" Zoe asked confused by the unfamiliar word.

"It's like a..." Seras pondered how to explain to the girl. "An extremely powerful, intelligent zombie but it looks like and can pass as a normal human. You need to know what you're looking for to spot one as they can be very cunning if they want. He was controlling the ghouls he had created and I was powerless to stop them and ended up surrounded. He was going to make me into a ghoul as well."

"What happened?" Zoe whispered.

"The Hellsing specialist arrived." Seras stated. "That was the name of the group I ended up working for."

"He saved you?" Zoe asked.

"No." Seras said. "He actually killed me. Shot me through one of my lungs to kill the vampire. Bloody hurt too."

"But you'd already been infected right?" Dirge asked guessing how Seras still here telling them this.

"Nope. The specialist was actually an insanely powerful vampire, the No Life King. My former master. Bound through some sort of magic I guess to the Hellsing family who controlled him. After all, the best weapon against vampires is one of their own." Seras looked at the roof a faint smile crossing her lips. "He offered me a choice, I could die there or I could go with him and live. I chose to live. If you check the records you'll find my death certificate. I've been dead for over forty years."

"Forty years?" Dirge repeated in shock and looked back at her. Seras still looked ill as she lay leaning against the side of the hearse. "You're in good condition for a corpse."

"As long as I get a constant supply of blood I can heal and repair all damage to my body." Seras stated. "The more blood I get the stronger I am."

"Like your head?" Zoe asked remembering what she saw when Seras banged her head.

"Yep." Seras nodded.

"Head?" Dirge asked.

"When we crashed!" Zoe exclaimed excitedly. "Seras made her head pop back into shape! I saw it!" Zoe smiled proudly.

Dirge looked over his shoulder at Seras, his eyebrow ridge's raised.

"Yeah. My skull was caved in by your crazy driving." Seras smirked.

"So...let me guess. Being near Zoe makes you hungry? That's why you insisted on being placed in the back." Dirge stated.

"Yes." Seras said looking away in shame. "I've had to ration myself these last few years. I'm normally good at resisting the hunger but being this close after years of avoiding people is hard. It makes it worse that she's so young. To be honest if I was not so starved at the moment I could control myself enough to take just small amounts of blood here and there. It's how I've lived for years before the outbreak."

"I guess we're very similar." Dirge said. "We both have a hard to control hunger."

"Yeah." Seras agreed.

"So will you decay if you don't get blood?" Dirge asking curious.

"I think so." Seras stated. "I believe I'll end up starving and more than likely going insane with the hunger. Eventually I'd go into a state of hibernation known as torpor. To all intents and purposes I'd be dead unless something living woke me up."

"And the way the world is going...that's unlikely." Dirge said sadly.

"Yeah. Without humans or living creatures I'm eventually doomed as well." Seras agreed.

"Do you want some of my blood?" Zoe asked offering her arm toward Seras who sat up suddenly her pupils turning red before see got control of herself and shut her eyes turning away.

"Don't...don't go offering things you don't understand." Seras hissed angrily.

"But...you can take a little right? Then you won't be weak." Zoe stated.

"Don't Zoe." Dirge said pulling the girl back into her chair. "Doing that is making it worse for Seras."

"But..."

"Trust me you won't be helping her if she kills you in hunger right?" Dirge told the little girl.

"If you still feel that way when you're older then I'll accept your offer." Seras spoke quietly. "But right now I cannot guarantee not to kill you. You're only little and I could easily take too much from you. I want to see you get home, not have your death haunting me. I'm a monster but at least I can still do some good with my time left."

"You're not a monster you know." Dirge smirked. "A monster would not think like that."

Seras glanced at Dirge and a smile covered her dark veined face. "Thanks. You're not bad yourself."

"By the way..." Dirge spoke. "Why'd you get so sick? Did you really eat some zombies?"

"Seras ate zombies?" Zoe asked eyes going wide at finding out something could eat zombies.

"Yeah, I forgot my guns and there was a lot of them and a tiger." Seras said with a grimace. "It normally wouldn't make me ill eating the dead, gross but won't make me sick. I think the virus that brings them back doesn't agree with me. I have no problem with it coming from living blood, or even ghouls but Nekrosis infected zombie blood is another story completely."

"Curious." Dirge pondered while guiding the hearse towards the city. They had just passed a sign saying "Destiny City, 5 miles."

**Chapter 5**

Dirge swore quietly under his unnecessary breath as the moon was once again hidden by cloud cover, plunging them into almost absolute darkness and he found himself cursing the fact they had hit that barrier head-on. They were currently following the main route through Destiny City, the towering skyscrapers, only completed a few years before the outbreak stood silent and darkened, the black windows watching like empty eye sockets. The once proud city, a pinnacle of engineering and design now lay in dark ruin, only inhabited by the dead.

"Awww, perfect." Dirge slowed the car down to a crawl, the road here was littered with debris and now he could barely see. "Seras, I could do with some help here. You feeling any better yet?"

"Not really." Seras groaned dragging herself over to the front seats. Leaning over the back of them with her arms crossed and chin resting on them, Seras stared forward. "You need me to guide?"

"Please." Dirge watched the vampire in concern, hoping she had her cravings under control. Seras was looking pale, but at least most of the black veins had seemed to have faded. He still found it slightly surreal to think she was as dead as he was, had been for far longer too. She looked so much like a normal human and Dirge felt a twinge of jealousy.

"Hmmm, stay to your left. The road's mostly clear." Seras stated. "Careful around fifty metres in though. Looks like a bomb went off leaving a large crater."

"Exactly _how_ far can you see?" Dirge asked in wonder.

"Without my using my abilities, my eye sight is generally five times greater than a human and I can see in almost complete darkness." Seras told the zombie driver. "Using my abilities I can generally keep track of a target up to a few miles and can see in zero light. Makes me a crack shot with any weapon."

"Wow." Dirge rumbled. "Is you sense of smell as good?"

"Yeah." Seras nodded and added. "And hearing. We are predators after all."

"Can you feel?" Zoe asked curiously. The girl was currently eating something with frosting on it, easy to see as her face was covered in with powder. "Dirge said zombies don't feel."

"Yeah that's normal." Seras smiled at Zoe, amused at the messy sight of her sugar coated face.

"Seems I got the short end of the undead stick." Dirge mumbled.

"Let me tell you though it's not pleasant getting skewered with blades when you can feel it." Seras stated. "It's not all good for me though. I have a few weakness's that can be used against me."

"Really? The whole sunlight thing? Is that real?" Dirge asked.

"Depends on how strong or old the vampire is." Seras stated. "I'm low on blood so staying out in the sunlight is getting harder for me. Which is why I prefer to avoid it nowadays. There's also blessed weapons but I've not run into anyone who used those for years now."

"What happens in sunlight?" Zoe asked.

"I get really bad sunburn."

"Garlic?" Dirge pondered. "Is that true?"

"Only if I ate the stuff. I'd just throw up." Seras laughed. "Dunno where that came from. But I am allergic to silver, it really burns. Silver bullets are buggers if they get stuck."

"I thought that was werewolves?" Dirge stated.

"Move to the right Dirge." Seras spoke seeing an obstruction. "Nah. They're tough but an ordinary bullet to head stops them."

"Wait! They're real too?" Dirge gasped turning to look at Seras before shaking his head. "I don't believe it."

"They were." Seras stated. "They're now extinct."

"Nekrosis got them too?"

"No I did." Seras grinned showing her fangs off again.

"Dare I ask..." Dirge mumbled as the hearse began climbing a steep hill. As they crested the hill Dirge hit the brakes.

"Awww perfect." the large zombie mumbled. He did not need Seras to tell him about the devastation lying in front of them. One of the skyscrapers lay shattered across the highway blocking their route.

"Not really surprising." Seras started talking staring at the ruin. "The humans panicked as more and more zombies were created. They set fire to their own buildings to try and destroy them. It only caused more destruction and death."

"Guess we'll have to go around." Dirge stated turning the wheel right and guiding the hearse off the highway and into the city. Dirge had hoped they could have just followed the highway all the way, avoiding having to go deep into the city, home of many zombies.

Row after row of dark buildings passed them until Dirge suddenly hit the brakes spotting something strange. To their right stood the Destiny City Natural History Museum. A massive white building with a long set of steps leading up to it. Huge Corinthian columns decorating the front. A light had just turned off inside.

"What is it?" Seras asked as she had missed the light.

"I thought I saw something." Dirge stated killing the engine.

"A zombie?" Zoe asked looking outside the hearse into the darkened streets.

"Doubtful." Dirge replied staring towards the now darkened window. "Zombies don't turn off the lights when they exit a room."

"What are you planning?" Seras asked as Dirge he opened the car door.

"There may be someone alive in there. They might have a radio and if they do we can call for help." Dirge climbed out the car. Placing his hands on the roof he leaned down to glare in. "Stay in the car. And by stay in the car I mean, stay in the car. Translated into English that means stay in the car."

Dirge shut the door and from inside the passengers watched him walk past and then make his way up the steps towards the museum. Seras glanced at Zoe and Zoe looked back at Seras and an unspoken agreement passed between them.

Dirge slowed as he neared the top steps. One thing he had not factored into this was the fact that humans usually welcomed undead with guns. Reaching back he pulled his shovel free and held the metal blade near his face like a shield. He was not worried about bullets hitting his body as anything short of a headshot would not put him down. May make him into a right a mess but at least he would not lose consciousness.

"You forgot the flashlight." Zoe's voice stated behind Dirge. The large zombie's shoulders tightened and when he turned around the look on his face made Zoe flinch. Seras stood beside the girl and Cerberus beside her.

"Didn't I just...? What in the hell are you two...?" Dirge stuttered in rage. "Do you have any idea how many zombies are out here?"

"Approximately seventy seven point two zombies per city block." Zoe stated reciting what she had been taught in school. "Which is way more than it takes to break a car window."

"Precisely, and in my current state Zoe's safer with someone watching me." Seras spoke while poking Dirge in the chest.

"Fine. But what makes you think you're safer out here instead of in the car?"

"Because you're out here with us." Zoe explained.

Dirge stared as he felt his anger drain away at the little girl's proclamation. It felt nice to be wanted. Turning slowly Dirge shook his head. "You're gonna be the death of me."

None of the group noticed the small black object hovering high above the plaza, staring down emotionlessly as they entered into the museum. Nor did they see the three large, vaguely robotic shapes standing on the roof of a nearby building. Observing.

------------

Dirge pushed open the glass door carefully and the group stepped into the museum. The entrance way was huge and vaguely circular. Large fancy white marble pillars stood around the outside and there was more than one floor above them. Balconies that could be used to get a different view at the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that stood proudly in the centre. Off to the side a reproduction of a woolly mammoth stood and it was obvious the exhibit was something to do with the Ice Age.

Cerberus sniffed the air curious at all the new smells while Seras stepped up beside Dirge. The pair glanced around checking every nook and darkened doorway for trouble.

"Are there any zombies in here?" Zoe asked placing herself behind her two protectors.

"Just two and a bloodthirsty vampire." Dirge joked looking serious.

"Not funny!" Zoe glared while Seras began walking towards the centre, her booted footsteps on the checked floor tiles echoed around the entrance. She was certain something was moving in here and slowly reached for her guns.

"Hello?" Dirge bellowed out his voice echoing around the museum. "Hello! Anybody home? Preferably living?"

"Thank you for visiting Destiny City Natural History Museum." a recording of a female voice began to speak over the loudspeakers that hung from the roof causing the group to glance up. "The end of the Tertiary period saw a great cooling of climates throughout the world. The result was the Ice Age of the Quaternary period. During this time the ice caps spread outwards from the South and North Poles, and the glaciers crept down from the mountains. The lowlands of northern Europe and North America had a chill tundra landscape - barren lands with frozen ground - like modern Siberia."

"Hmmm, didn't know that. Did you know that?" Dirge asked. Zoe shook her head.

"Ice Age animals were often buried and preserved in frozen mud, such as mammoths, sabretooth tigers and even small dinosaurs. Imagine what life would be like, if these creatures were alive today."

"I'd rather not." Dirge mumbled, visions of zombie-dinosaurs dancing through his head. Thankfully that was not possible he thought.

Seras half listened as she stepped up to the Tyrannosaurus skeleton sure she had spotted movement. As she moved around the exhibit she came face to face with something so surprising that she did not even think about firing her guns.

Seras blinked and the four and a half foot tall Velociraptor blinked back at her and chirped like a bird before it lashed out with its wickedly clawed foot, catching Seras across the stomach instantly disembowelling her. Before Seras could even register the pain it had leapt onto her chest sending her crashing backwards onto the floor, her guns clattering away as it gripped her shoulders and reared its fanged head back. Seras grunted as she caught the creature's snout and jaws and forcefully held it away from her face.

Dirge swore out loud before running towards the grappling pair. "You've got to be kidding me!"

The large zombie grabbed the zombie-raptor from behind yanking it off of the bleeding Seras and tried to pull it away. The raptor kicked out with its hind legs making it a struggle for Dirge to hold the beast.

"I can already tell, we're not gonna get along." Dirge stated as the raptor continued thrashing. With one particularly powerful thrust the raptor knocked Dirge backwards sending him crashing to the ground. His head bounced off the floor rattling his brain. The raptor was back on its feet before he had even gathered what had happen.

With high pitched shriek the raptor took off straight for Zoe. The girl shrieked herself and ran diving behind a pillar. The raptor skittered to a halt, its claws raking scratches in the marble floor as Cerberus dived into its path and the two beasts circled each other hissing and growling. At an unseen signal the two zombie animals charged each other.

While this was happening Dirge had climbed back to his feet and ran over to Seras. She was struggling to roll herself over, gore hanging from her midsection and dark blood spreading in a pool around her. Dirge stared at the sight feeling disturbingly hungry.

"Seras?" Dirge prompted.

"Bastard." Seras hissed in pain at the raptor as bits of her insides moved around and became bits on the outside that should not have. "Protect Zoe! I'm fine!" Seras shouted at Dirge spraying speckles of blood in his direction. Dirge taking her word for it took off towards the warring animals.

Cerberus dived at the raptor only to receive a kick from the dinosaur that caught the dog in the face, tearing Cerberus' face clean off. A second vicious kick sent the dog spinning away to smash through another glass exhibit. The raptor roared in triumph only to have a shovel clang onto the top of its head sending the raptor snout first into the floor.

Even as Dirge raised the shovel for a second whack the raptor was moving. Back on its feet in a flash it leapt at Dirge and kicked out with both feet catching him in the chest. Dirge was propelled like a rocket across the museum and smashed through the leg of the Tyrannosaur to slam against a pillar. The exhibit swayed dangerously before giving in to gravity and toppling with a loud clatter, bones spinning everywhere.

The raptor turned once more towards Zoe's hiding place but a movement it saw out the corner of its eye made the beast leap away. Good thing too for the pillar behind where its head had just been exploded as it was hit by a thirty eight millimetre round. Chunks of marble flew around the area even as the echo of the gun firing continued bouncing around. Zoe had her hands clamped over her ears at the noise. Seras' gun that she had retrieved sounded like a cannon in the area.

"Damn!" Seras swore not believing she had missed and rotated her arm tracking the dinosaur as it scampered around the pillars. Seras grimaced in pain at moving. She was on her knees now, gore trailing from her as she had crawled across the floor to get her gun. The gun went off again and again. The raptor seemed to have a supernatural ability to dodge bullets as each shot hit the area the beast had just vacated. Seras soon realised the raptor was circling in towards her, using the pillars as cover. She absently wondered if the raptor was related to Neo from the matrix films she had seen years ago.

The raptor burst from behind one of the nearest pillars and rushed towards her, black spittle dripping from its gapping maw. Seras grinned, she had it now. The click of the hammer hitting an empty chamber echoed. _Maybe not_, Seras thought just as the raptor leapt towards her claws first.

Seras had resigned herself to more pain, getting ready to catch the descending beast when the chain Dirge carried wrapped around its neck with a crack. The raptor's eyes and tongue bulged from its head comically as Dirge yanked on the chain.

"Come here!"

The raptor's direction was reversed and it now flew backwards towards the large zombie who swung his shovel back.

"Fore!"

Shovel met raptor with a clang and the dinosaur had its trajectory altered once again to end up skewered on the ivory tusk of a fake woolly mammoth, where the beast hissed and spit like a demented cat. Zoe seeing the coast clear ran over to Dirge but drew up short when she spotted the mess Seras was in, staring wide eyed at the bloody vampire.

"I'm terribly sorry about that." a heavily accented female voice stated from behind them causing Zoe and Dirge to jump in surprise. "Millions of years of genetic programming are hard to erase. Not even a glacier could take the fight out of her."

The group looked around as one to find a slender shape of a woman standing in the shadows behind them.

"Her?" Zoe asked to which Dirge grumbled.

"Figures." The large zombie cast a glare at the raptor which glared back at them from its skewered position.

"True, she makes for an effective security system. No human has ever made it past those doors in one piece. The problem comes in turning her off."

_No human_? Dirge thought hearing those words. "Something tells me you're not the curator."

"No." the woman replied stepping forward, her high heels making clicking noises as she approach stepping into the light. "An exhibit."

Dirge stared at the woman in wonder. She was stunning he supposed, slender and curvy. Tall with long black hair that hung down past her shoulders and was wearing what could only be described as rolls of black electrical tape wrapped around her body, leaving only her hands, face and midriff shown. Her face was decorated with the Egyptian symbol of Ra around both eyes and cheeks. Yep, she would be stunning if you ignored the six foot scythe she carried and the unhealthy green pallor that indicated she was long dead.

Cerberus wandered over after finally pulling himself from where he had landed. Zoe did a double take as she noticed the dog's face was missing. Dirge noticed too while Seras hissed climbing to her feet.

"Your lizard broke our vampire." Dirge pointed out. "And my dog!"

"A blood drinker? I was led to believe her kind were myths." the woman inquired fixing Seras with a curious stare. Seras returned the look with one of annoyance.

"Why do all the intelligent zombies think _I'm_ impossible?" Seras mumbled pulling herself back together. The others looked on in wonder as the blood and other bits of Seras crawled across the floor towards her. Cerberus sniffed at the moving mess as it passed him by. Soon the vampire was whole again, even her clothing had repaired and Dirge shook his head.

"Now I _really_ feel like I got the short end of the undead stick."

"A most useful ability." the dead woman stated appraising Seras before turning to Dirge. "So you are a variant."

"A what?" Dirge boggled. In the background Seras picked up her other gun before wandering back over.

"Hmmm. Not a very smart variant." the woman stated spinning on her heels and walking off. "Come with me!"

"Who _are_ you?" Dirge called after her suddenly annoyed with her know-it-all tone.

"Quickly! Before she frees herself."

Dirge glanced over his shoulder, the raptor was gradually pulling itself free. Grumbling he gave Zoe a little push to get her moving and the group followed the woman into the back.

As they followed the dead woman into the off-limits area of the museum, Zoe's eyes were drawn to all the glass jars that lined the hallway. Each contained some pickled specimen, whether insect, body part or sea creature. One such specimen caught her eye, a small squid stared out at her and as she stared into its dead empty gaze she was drawn back into her recently forgotten memories.

Zoe found herself standing on the boat, bobbing around on the darkened waves of the sea. In her hands was her teddy bear, Wolfgang she remembered the name. The sound of rotor blades coming from above sounded dulled as if coming through a haze as the black shape of a helicopter descended towards her.

Zoe glanced up as the rope ladder was unfurled and voices shouted for her to jump. Above her she could just make out the dark shape of her mother. Zoe reached for the ladder, caught it and slowly began climbing. Halfway up she slipped, dropping Wolfgang into the waters below and she was forced to grip the ladder with both hands.

Below her there was a sudden explosion of water as the tiny boat she had been on was pulled under the waves by tentacles, followed by the huge unblinking eye of a giant squid rising to the surface. Giant undead tentacles shot up towards her and Zoe found herself falling, down, down into the water and the corridor suddenly rushed back into sight.

"Zoe?" Seras asked the girl, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. She had paused to watch Zoe stare hypnotised by one of the specimen jars. One that contained a pickled squid.

"I remember." Zoe whispered glancing up at Seras.

"That's good." Seras congratulated the girl before taking her hand once more. "Let's catch up with the others kay."

Zoe nodded as Seras led the girl after Dirge who had just disappeared into a room with their newest acquaintance. Seras read the sign above the door, Egyptology Research Lab before pushing the door open and entering herself.

"So let me get this straight," they heard Dirge speaking. "You're a reanimated Egyptian mummy on loan from the British government."

"Permanent load as it were." the woman replied while collecting a few tools from the various benches around the room. "And not a mummy exactly, it wasn't unheard of for an Egyptian king to have the living buried with him. Wives, slaves, cats. All left to die from either heat or starvation."

"How thoughtful." Dirge grimaced and grabbed an industrial stapler off the desk and handed it to Zoe. The girl looked up at him curiously.

"Here," Dirge handed Zoe the remains of Cerberus' face. "Patch him up. I've got a few questions for Queen Tut here."

"You flatter me." the zombie in black tape said. "If I were royalty, my insides would have been extracted. My brain taken out through my nose with a sharp metal hook. Obviously I was not treated to such a procedure."

"Remarkably well preserved for someone not put through mummification." Seras spoke up examining the woman, noting the stitches across her forehead just under her hairline.

"A curiosity I suppose." the woman replied approaching Dirge with the tools she had collected.

"You got a name?" Dirge inquired pondering what Seras had pointed out. Just how did she keep herself in such condition?

"Nephthys." she answered. "Not my given name obviously. After all we don't remember those do we?" She fixed Dirge with a knowing stare.

"Not exactly, no." Dirge replied wondering just how many other oddities he would run into tonight. Finding another zombie blessed, or was the cursed with intelligence? A vampire and finding out that other creatures once thought myth may be real as well. He still felt the raptor was pushing it though.

Nephthys began stabbing a metal spike into Dirge's chest. He looked down, she was stitching a fresh tear in his skin from the battle with the raptor.

"And what, if anything should I call you four?"

"I'm often called an abomination from the darkest pits of hell." Seras joked. "But anyone who knows me just calls me Seras."

Nephthys let out a short amused sound as she continued to repair the damage done to Dirge.

"The girl is Zoe. The dog is Cerberus. I'm Dirge." Dirge stated.

"A mournful lyric." Nephthys sighed. "How depressing."

"Mind explaining to me how a couple of thousand years old corpse speaks English so well?" Dirge inquired sceptically towards Nephthys.

"Network-Enabled Phonetic Translation of Hieroglyphics." Nephthys stated indicating the large quad screen computer nearby. "Used to verbally catalogue and cross-reference tomb inscriptions. The humans called it NEPHTHYS for short."

"You don't say." Dirge stated examining the large system as Nephthys finished stitching. Seras walked over to examine the device as well. She knew a bit about computers but this one was more advanced than she had seen before. Fancy logos, data and graphs flashed past depending on which of the screens you looked at. In the background sounds of a staple gun clicked as Zoe tried to fix Cerberus' face back on.

"Mind filling us in on this variant business?" Dirge sending a questioning look towards Nephthys.

"There isn't much you should not already know."

"It's what you call what you and Dirge are?" Seras asked. "An intelligent zombie?"

"Correct." Nephthys said. "We both are anomalies. A billion to one chance."

"I guessed that. How? Why?" Dirge asked.

Nephthys clicked a couple of buttons and the screen changed to show a zoomed in view from the high-tech microscope positioned on the end of the desk. The screen showed a cellular structure that wiggled around, various nasty looking barbs stuck out from its body.

"The parasitic organism responsible for reanimating the dead..." Nephthys stated as Seras leaned in to get a closer look. She decided that the virus looked evil.

"Nekrosis." Dirge stated staring at the screen curiously.

"Correct." Nephthys confirmed.

"Evil looking buggers aren't they." Seras interrupted. "So that's what it looks like. I'm curious why I can't absorb it like everything else living or dead."

"How do you mean?" Nephthys asked curious.

"If I take the blood from a heavy infested zombie I get ill and my body has to purge it. Dirge has seen the results once so far." Seras said still studying the parasite.

"Yeah that was kinda gross." Dirge admitted.

"No other creature I have come across has that effect on me." Seras continued. "Insect, lizard, human, virus. All can be fed upon. I've never met a disease that could affect me till Nekrosis."

"Curious." Nephthys pondered tapping a finger on the desk. "Would you mind taking part in an experiment?"

"What kind?" Seras asked.

"Place a drop of blood on this." Nephthys passed Seras a thin strip of plastic that had a faint indent in the centre. "I'm curious now about what happens with your body on the cellular level when Nekrosis is introduced."

Seras took the plastic strip, stared at it carefully before shrugging and biting the end of her thumb. After letting a single drop fall onto the strip she passed it back to Nephthys who wandered over to the microscope. She slid the sample under the lens, swapping out the Nekrosis one.

The three turned as one to look at the screen.

"Interesting." Nephthys stated. "At first glance your cell structure looks normal. But it becomes obvious it is not when you notice there is no movement nor division going on. I wonder how they stay stable."

"Well I am as dead as you two." Seras pointed out.

"True. Shall we introduce Nekrosis to the mix." Nephthys said picking up a dropper that contained samples collected from her own flesh and carefully dropped one single drop under the microscope. The reaction was not immediate as at first the Nekrosis cells floated about slowly before they picked their targets and moved in barbs stabbing the nearest cells.

The reaction to the attack was immediate though as cellular warfare broke out. Both sets of cellular structures began fighting for dominance and trying to absorb the other. Eventually it became obvious that Nekrosis was outclassed as the virus was killed of one by one, but strangely unable to be absorbed. The dead cells floated around as the vampiric ones kept trying to absorb them.

"It would appear that we may have found the cure." Nephthys stated in awe but Seras shook her head with a frown.

"No. It's just trading one form of undeath for another." Seras stated. "And there are only certain conditions that allow true vampirism to be passed on. If they are not met you get a ghoul." At Nephthys' look Seras elaborated. "A zombie like creature under the control of the vampire that created it."

"So only very few would survive anyway." Nephthys stated.

"Yeah. And those that did would more than likely end up fighting each other for dominance until only one survived to face starvation and going insane through hunger as no life exists anymore." Seras sighed. "Not something I'm looking forward too."

"You are that one?" Nephthys asked and Dirge turned to watch Seras carefully.

"Not yet." Seras stated knowing Alucard would still be around somewhere. "But I have not met another for decades now."

"Getting back to us then." Dirge spoke. "How did we keep our minds?"

"At time of death, this organism assumes executive control of the brain...restoring basic motor function and coordination. This usually happens anywhere between one and five minutes after passing, allowing the brain enough time to shutdown." Nephthys stated to Dirge's question. "Once awakened, Nekrosis atrophies both the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, rendering memories inaccessible to the victim."

"It forces us to forget." Dirge stated.

"Yes. The parasite evolves quickly, repressing the limbic system, thus interrupting characteristic and emotional response."

"Sounds to me like ours never finished the job."

"Or were hindered."

Dirge turned his eyeballs to Nephthys a frown decorating his face. "You think someone did this to us?"

"I prefer to think the gods smiled on us." Nephthys smiled. "Gave us a second chance."

**Chapter 6**

"A chance to do what?" Dirge said sounding more than a little angry. "Watch ourselves rot from the inside out?"

Nephthys frowned as she addressed Dirge. "To attend to unfinished business. Perhaps serve some greater purpose. Not many people get a second chance you know."

"Lucky for them." Dirge stated sarcastically folding his arms, obviously annoyed. _Greater purpose. What a joke_, Dirge thought to himself.

Seras kept quiet choosing to stay out of the argument and instead chose to study the computer screen, which was now showing her blood sample had gathered all the Nekrosis cells together in a clump and was pushing them to the edge. With a thought Seras recalled the tiny blood sample she had given. The screen now just showed the dead Nekrosis virus.

"So tell me," Nephthys asked folding her arms too. "What business does a vampire and a dead man and his dog have with that little girl? I assume she's still among the living."

"Of course she is. And I intend to keep her that way."

"Who is she?"

"We don't know much apart from her name." Seras spoke up. "I found her washed up on the beach about to become zombie-bird food. We're taking her home."

"And where is that?" Nephthys asked.

"The Acropolis." Dirge stated.

Nephthys almost laughed in Dirge's face but managed to control herself. "Hmmm. That's nice. Tell me the other one."

"It's the only settlement within a hundred miles of here. If her family is anywhere, it's there." Dirge reasoned while casting a glare towards the Egyptian zombie.

"I know the Acropolis. Outside the city, through a darkened tunnel...hidden in the face of a mountain. It's swarming with tower guards. Robotic defences systems. You'll be blown to pieces before you even see the main gates."

"Trust me," Seras laughed. "There's no building I can't get in. That defence system will not stop me, I'll get Zoe home easily."

"Have you seen the defences they have? You should not take them so lightly."

"Heh." Seras grinned. "Watch this then."

Seras continued to grin as walked into desk and computer, passing through them like a ghost. The two watching zombies' eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Seras being half embedded into the computer which continued running as if nothing had happened. Neither Dirge nor Nephthys could see that Seras had placed one foot against the wall and proceeded to stick to the wall ending up horizontal and then proceeded to walk up it. Seras continued walking up and then onto the ceiling, where she then sauntered over to stand hanging upside-down in front of Nephthys. Seras paused smirking at the zombie for a moment before she seemed to fade from existence.

"Still think I can't get in?" Seras' voice floated in Nephthys' ear as she reappeared behind her standing on the floor. Nephthys turned her head slowly to see Seras grinning like a Cheshire cat, she waved.

"I...see." Nephthys stated trying unsuccessfully to not sound disturbed.

Dirge was about to speak but Zoe interrupted him. "All Done! What do you think?"

The group turned as one to examine the repairs Zoe had done to Cerberus with surprise. The dog's face was back on, covered in a multitude of staples seeming chosen to be placed at random. Seras guessed Zoe had used up all the staples in the stapler. As they looked on a staple pinged off and disappeared behind a cabinet.

"Good as new." Nephthys stated first with a smile, lying not to hurt the girl's feelings. Zoe swelled with pride at a job well done.

"We should go." Dirge said growing aware of the time being wasted with this little side trip. "If we want to reach the settlement before dawn."

"Which way will you take once you leave the city?" Nephthys asked.

"North, towards the mountains. There's only one road in or out...the settlement supply line. It hasn't been used since the humans fixed the mag-rail, but I'm guessing the rubble's still clear." Dirge replied turning to leave.

"Just be aware that the settlement is nearly inaccessible."

"Good thing too." Dirge glanced back. "There's monsters out there."

Nephthys watched the strange group leave the lab, Dirge first followed by his dog. Seras had taken Zoe's hand and the girl had paused to look back and wave before they followed. Nephthys raised her hand to wave back but they had already left and dropped it slowly. An unfamiliar feeling of regret bounced around her head and she quickly followed to stand in the doorway.

"Be careful," Nephthys called after them. "Not all monsters in this world are of the undead variety."

"Thanks." Dirge called back flippantly. "I'll keep that in mind. Good luck with your higher purpose."

"That was just a tad rude don't you think?" Seras pointed out to Dirge once Nephthys was out of sight.

"Maybe." Dirge agreed feeling slightly guilty as they retraced their steps to the lobby. "But we do need to hurry up. We can drop by afterwards and apologise or whatever once we get Zoe home."

"We?" Seras blinked.

"Well...I just thought that you'd want to hang around...or sumthing." Dirge mumbled in surprise. He had strangely gotten use to Seras' company in just a few short hours. She was good to talk to, but the most important part to Dirge was she talked to him as an equal and not some monster.

"What makes you think I was going to hang around?" Seras pondered with a frown.

"I just...aww forget it." Dirge grumbled feeling strangely empty at Seras' words.

"You just thought eh?" Seras glared. "Oh, I see. You expected me to just return with you to that crypt? And do what? Wait for the end of the world? Sounds like real fun."

"I said forget it!" Dirge snapped in growing frustration.

"No I won't!" Seras growled angrily and Dirge spun on her. Whatever he was going to say caught in his throat at Seras' red eyed glare. Collecting his wits Dirge was about to restart the argument when Zoe spoke up.

"Please don't fight!"

Seras and Dirge both looked at Zoe and paused at the look on the girl's face. She looked almost ready to cry which brought out feelings of guilt at upsetting her in both of them.

"We're not fighting." Seras comforted Zoe before smiling. "Dirge is still in one piece."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Dirge mumbled and Seras sent Dirge a look that said we _will_ have words about this later. The group fell into an uneasy silent as they covered the last few metres towards the lobby.

As they approached the lobby, Dirge indicated to them to slow down and he slowly pushed the door open checking for the raptor. Part of him was actually hoping for a repeat performance as he had some frustration he wanted to work off.

Peering around the doorway the area seemed as they left it, sans one impaled raptor. The beast had freed itself from the tusk, leaving behind in a black substance covering the tusk.

"Careful. The dino's gone." Dirge stated stepping carefully into the area, followed closely by Cerberus. The zombie dog began sniffing around warily for the raptor. Seras led Zoe out keeping the girl close and drawing one of her guns, just in case.

The cloud cover must have broken as the centre of the lobby was bathed in the light from the full moon, pouring in from the round skylight five stories up.

"Looks clear." Dirge stated. "Seras?"

"I don't see anything moving." Seras replied glancing around, her eyes penetrating the darkness beyond the moon lit area.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Dirge said wholeheartedly wanting to put this place behind them. He led the group across the room, past the wrecked tyrannosaur skeleton. It was as they were passing through the moon lit centre that the light was partially blocked and it was not by cloud cover.

Dirge and Seras both noticed the shadowy shapes cast on the floor, drew to a halt and glanced up in time to see the glass skylight shatter as the shapes jumped through the glass.

Seras reacted instantly, sweeping Zoe into her arms and sprinting out of the way. Dirge and Cerberus moved just a fraction of a second behind her both leaping to safety as three black shapes landed with thudding impacts that shook the room and shattered the tiles below them. A cloud of fine dust exploded upwards even as the glass from the skylight rained down, bouncing off of the ground and the black shapes that crouched in the centre of the destruction.

Seras crouched protectively over Zoe, holding the girl close as glass bounced harmlessly off her back. As the last sounds of glass hitting the ground faded Seras unfolded herself from around Zoe to stand up. She turned quickly to face the shapes, ensuring that she kept her body between whatever had dropped in and Zoe. Dirge was already facing the unexpected surprises that had just dropped in.

The three black shapes began unfolding from the crouching position they had landed in. Whatever they were, they were big, big and bulky. Standing around seven feet tall and covered in bulky black armour plating they resembled giant humanoid beetles. The large armour on their shoulders gave them a hunched over and even more intimidating look. Rising from their backs was a large antenna like spike that gave them even greater height. Every few seconds a blue energy would pulse down the grooves etched in the armour plating, sending a low vibration through the air.

The armour plated things stared impassively at the group before them with their three triangularly arranged blue glowing eyes. The sound of heavy breathing as if the three massive things were deep-sea diving filled the room, sounding strangely ominous and out of place.

Dirge stared back wondering what kind of weird dream he was actually having tonight. Vampires, dinosaurs, zombies and now some kind of robots?

Seras was pondering the same thing. She had already decided which of the three was the leader and most dangerous. The one standing closest to them was bigger and bulkier than the two towards the back.

"Seras? Dirge?" Zoe asked peeking out from behind the vampire's legs.

"Variant has taken a name." observed the leader, its voice immediately made Seras think of Darth Vader gargling mud. The tentacle like appendances attached to its face plate wriggled with each word.

"A functional contrivance." offered the second.

"Chosen by compulsion to distinguish itself," the third one stated.

"From the dead." the leader finished.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure." Dirge stated calmly even if he was not feeling that way. These things had just called him a variant, just what Nephthys said they were and he was now really getting confused.

"Memory remains destabilized."

"I beg your pardon?" Dirge gaped. That had gotten his attention.

"Variant recalls nothing."

"It preserves itself," The creatures stated, taking turns to speak. "Tissues saturated with methanol...ethyl alcohol...formaldehyde." They then spoke as one. "A clever one."

"Not clever enough." Dirge frowned. Whatever they were they seemed to have sensors built into that armour. "Who are you guys?"

The three observed him silently, like a curious scientist who had just discovered a new species of insect before speaking. "An irrelevant detail."

"I'd answer him if I was you." Seras stated making sure her guns made a lot of noise as she drew the second one and held them casually against her legs. This drew the three creatures' attention to her and they began examining her much as they had with Dirge.

"Anomaly detected."

"Creature appears deceased. Zero respiration. No heartbeat detected."

"No indication of cellular degradation."

"Lack of Nekrosis virus present in anomaly's body."

"Classification unknown. Retrieve for examination."

"I think you'll find that harder than you expect." Seras growled narrowing her eyes.

"Awfully evasive for a bunch of can openers aren't they." Dirge stated to Seras who nodded. The three creatures seemed to think or perhaps discuss between themselves silently.

"The Hands of God have been summoned."

"Uh huh." Dirge deadpanned.

"I once met people who claimed to be the hands of God." Seras stated casually. "They died. Painfully."

"They appear regarding a matter of...weapons disposal." The creatures continued ignoring Seras.

"Sounds to me, like they're after your guns Seras." Dirge joked.

"Incorrect." The leader spoke pointing its arm towards Dirge. "You are the weapon."

The two at the back copied the leader's movement. Their forearms opened up and a bladed disc, looking very similar to a shuriken rose out with a clunk.

"Have we met before?" Dirge frowned as he suddenly had an intense feeling of déjà vu. A memory had almost dislodged itself inside his head but vanished before he could fully grab hold of it, like sand running through his fingers.

The three creatures exchanged a knowing glance before once more facing the group.

"Propagation of the sera cannot be facilitated."

"Impediments to renewal."

"Impediments unacceptable."

"Why do I get the feeling I've been here before?" Dirge stated to himself.

The projectiles on the creatures' arms exploded off heading straight toward Dirge who quickly raised his shovel in front of himself in a desperate hope it would deflect them.

Three loud booms came from Seras' guns and the projectiles were deflected off course missing their intended target by a wide margin. One disappeared into the darkness above. Another one was sent spinning away to embed itself deeply into one of the pillars in the room. The third crashed into the white and black chequered tiles and cut a large groove before coming to a rest.

"Whoa!" Dirge exclaimed still holding his shovel in front of his face and observing the smoke drifting lazily from Seras' guns barrels.

"Dirge! Get Zoe out of here!" Seras commanded moving to place herself between them and the creatures, all the time keeping her guns aimed at them. "I'll handle these uglies."

One look at Seras' face indicated to Dirge she was deadly serious for once. Trusting the vampire knew what she was doing he grabbed Zoe and tucked her under one arm.

"You better not get killed." Dirge stated before taking off towards the main doors with Cerberus in pursuit. By this time the three large armour plated creatures had reloaded their forearm weapons and were aiming at Dirge's retreating back.

"Too late for that." Seras stated even though Dirge would not hear her. She did not have enough time to shoot all three and hoped her observations of these things were correct. Seras took aim at the leader's weapon and fired.

The gun's retort echoed around the lobby and the leader's bladed disc was shot off its arm with a metallic ding, where it vanished into the darkness beyond and clattered onto the ground. The leader reacted as if the blow had hurt and as one the three turned back to glare at her.

_Bingo!_ Seras thought in triumphant. _The other two seem to under the leader's direct control or are linked somehow._

"Not so fast boys." Seras grinned evilly revealing her fangs. "You need to get past me first."

------------

Dirge slammed open the museum doors with a clatter and sprinted out into the darkened city. Behind them he heard a single shot fire from Seras' guns. Not looking back he took the steps two at a time, heading towards the parked hearse as quickly as possible.

"Seras!" Zoe screamed out.

"Don't worry about Seras, Zoe." Dirge stated as the hearse drew closer.

"But…" Zoe started to say.

"She's too tough to be taken down by a bunch of overgrown bugs." Dirge explained ripping open the rear door. Dirge pushed Zoe into the back as quickly as he could without hurting her.

"Get in." Dirge commanded Cerberus who obediently jumped in the back with Zoe. Dirge slammed the door shut and stared back towards the museum. The sounds of gunfire could be heard and he knew Seras was the source. Turning towards the car's front Dirge paused for a second seeing shapes stumbling in the distance towards them.

"Awww perfect." Dirge groaned spotting the zombies approaching. "This is all we need right now. At least things can't get any worse now."

Quickly he moved towards the driver's side door grabbed the handle and yanked the door open and ended standing stock still, jaw hanging open and staring dumbfounded at the zombie in the driving seat. An Egyptian zombie to be precise.

"Get in." Nephthys stated turning to look up at Dirge.

"Wha…What the hell are you doing?!" Dirge shouted in frustration at something else surprising him again.

"Helping you escape." Nephthys stated. "Now hurry up and get in the car."

"Get out of the car!" Dirge waved his shovel threateningly towards her throat which was promptly ignored.

"Please." Nephthys asked waving the shovel away dismissively. "She won't be able to hold them off forever."

Dirge ground his teeth in frustration for a couple of seconds before slamming the door shut and hopping over the hearse's bonnet. He got in the passenger side.

"Are you coming with us now?" Zoe was asking Nephthys while holding onto the back of the front seats so she could see over.

"Apparently." Nephthys stated while gunning the engine. "Hold on." The Egyptian zombie told them just as Dirge shut the door.

Nephthys slammed the accelerator into the floor and with a squeal of tires the hearse shot forward pinning Dirge to the seat. The few unlucky zombies to be standing in the way of the hearse were run over.

"What the hell were those things?" Dirge finally spoke while watching the museum shrink in the mirror.

"You tell me." Nephthys said while expertly manoeuvring the hearse around obstructions at high speed. "They were after you."

"I've never seen them before in my life!" Dirge shot back at her and giving another glare.

"Afterlife." Nephthys corrected him calmly.

"Whatever!"

------------

"Anomaly facilitates the sera." The fractionally smaller armour plated creature to the leader's left stated aiming at Seras.

"Impediment to renewal." The one on the right concluded aiming as well.

"Impediments unacceptable." The leader stated another bladed disc popping out of its forearm.

"So you've already stated. I thought you wanted to capture me?" Seras pointed out still grinning. The three paused a moment before the leader replied. "Anomaly is not required to be whole."

"Less talking more shooting." Seras' grin seemed to widen and her eyes were blood red as she felt the excitement of battle fill her. She looked forward to seeing just what these creatures could do.

"Our sentiments exactly." The leader replied seconds before three bladed discs shot towards Seras.

Seras aimed and fired twice knocking the smaller creature's attacks off to the side and with a casual step to her right allowed the leader's disc to pass close by her ear. A grin still plastered to her face Seras fired once again. The shot impacted against the leader's right shoulder armour, which seemed to flex slightly absorbing the impact. Even with the force of the bullet hitting it, the leader did not move.

_So, they're exceptionally strong and tough_, Seras thought pleased. _These might just be fun to fight_.

"Huh?" Seras spoke out loud as the leader's bladed disc changed direction by itself and headed back at her. Being surprised by this development, Seras was unable to completely avoid the weapon and it cut through her right upper arm, leaving an inch deep gash.

The second and third disc also had somehow corrected their directions as well and spun towards her. One caught her in the thigh and the last slashed by her left cheek before all three discs returned to the three creatures and landed with a clunk back on their forearms.

Seras stared at the creatures, whose body language indicated they were probably smirking under those faceplates while still aiming at her. She lowered her head letting her hair cover her eyes from sight and she began chuckling. As Seras' chucking turned to laughter the three creatures exchanged confused glances.

"Yes!" Seras exclaimed lifting her head quickly revealing an insane grin. "Amazing strength! Reactive armour that can take a shot from my guns! And coordination far beyond human abilities! This will be fun!"

"Anomaly is clearly, insane."

"This indicates it is likely not to care about receiving damage."

"It will fight unpredictably."

"Anomaly is dangerous." All three stated together. "We must end this quickly."

The creatures and Seras both moved then. Three discs shot towards the vampire again as Seras began rapidly firing her guns. The sound was deafening as she moved around the room keeping her aim precisely on the creatures. Each shot impacted against their armour was barely registered as they too tracked her. Blades whizzing past her as she weaved around them easily now she knew their capabilities.

_I'm running out of bullets_, Seras thought to herself as the guns were not hurting the creatures in the slightest. _Let's see if the joints are as tough_.

Seras changed her aim to target the nearest creature's elbow and fired. She was rewarded with the creature clutching its arm. Black liquid began dipping from the damaged portion of the armour distracting the other two and Seras slipped behind the nearest pillar and began reloading her guns.

"So…" Seras stated loudly catching their attention. "Seems you guys can be hurt easily enough."

Using the position of Seras' voice, the three immediately sent their disc weapons flying towards her. They shot towards the pillar and just before impacting spun around it and turned back to slam into the pillar where Seras should be.

The three armoured creatures rushed over to find the discs embedded in the pillar but no sign of their target.

"I've got a question for you guys." Seras' disembodied voice floated around the entire lobby. The armoured creatures glanced around in confusion trying to pinpoint her position but it was like her voice was coming from every direction at once. When they could not locate her the leader made a motion towards the other two and stepped forward.

"Very well. We will allow an exchange of information." The leader stated while staring into the lobby.

"You claim to be the hands of god." Seras' voice was now coming from behind a pillar across from them. The two behind the leader aimed in that direction while the leader turned to stare. "Are you Catholics?"

"Negative. We follow no religion." The leader replied. "Was the anomaly created by Nekrosis virus?"

"Negative." Seras mocked her voice now coming from behind a different pillar. The leader once again turned towards that while only one of the smaller creatures aimed at the pillar, while the other kept aim towards the first pillar still. "I've existed for decades before Nekrosis appeared. What's your name? I like to know the name of who's for dinner."

"Xar Ggothua." The leader answered with a slight movement of its head. "Identify anomaly's species."

"I'm a vampire." Seras' voice was now coming from behind a different pillar. Xar Ggothua once again turned to face that direction. "Sired by the No-Life-King himself and a former officer of the Hellsing Organisation."

Xar Ggothua paused in thought before replying. "Vampire. Hellsing. Indicates the human work of fiction by author Bram Stoker. No-Life-King can only refer to the fictional character of Dracula. Anomaly proves it's insanity by believing such fiction is real."

"Believe what you want creature." Seras stated her voice once again coming from a different pillar. "You keep mentioning the sera? What is that?"

"Anomaly is not authorised for that information." Xar Ggothua stated and then aimed towards the back of the room. Behind him the other two also changed their aim.

"And how do you guys know Dirge eh?" Seras asked leaning back against the pillar she had moved to. She was currently holding a fresh clip halfway loaded into one gun, waiting to slam it home.

"Anomaly has no need of that information." Came the reply. Seras smirked, now she knew they were definitely after Dirge for some reason. Now all she needed to do was kill one and she would know what they were and why they were hunting Dirge. This night was proving very interesting.

Seras slammed the clip home with a loud metallic click and immediately answering was the sound of the disc's once more being fired. Seras grinned and vanished to another pillar before diving out right into the path of the discs.

"What the hell?" Seras exclaimed before dropping into a roll and avoiding the spinning weapons. She was forced to scrabble to the side and dived behind another pillar as the discs began tracking her. Raising her guns she fired three times knocking the discs off course. She swore. They could track her somehow and now she had wasted three more rounds.

"Anomaly is capable of short range translocation." Xar Ggothua's voice stated. "However its energy signature is highly disorganised and unique."

Behind the pillar Seras gave a toothy grin. This was turning out to be quite exciting. It would be challenge not be hit by these creatures. Unlike her sire she did not enjoy allowing her opponents to blow her to pieces, before turning the tables and showing them just how outclassed they were.

She heard the noise of the discs once more being fired and waited a second before bursting into movement. She sprang to her feet and raced past the gap between pillars, the discs missing her by millimetres before they corrected themselves and began closely following her.

Seras kept her eyes on the three armour plated ones in the centre of the room. All three were tracking her with their eyes and adjusting their stances as she moved around the room.

_Let's see how they like a more direct attack_, Seras thought to herself getting ready to run towards them. It was however at this time the raptor decided to make reappearance leaping out at Seras as she passed by.

"Oh bloody 'ell!" Seras exclaimed as the raptor clamped its jaw around her left arm and bit down, severing her arm just above the elbow. Being distracted by the zombiesaur she was unable to continue avoiding the bladed discs and she was hit.

The first took off her other arm at the shoulder eliciting another bout of swearing. Seras attempted to twist out of the way but the second disc tracked her perfectly cutting her in half at the waist. The third disc missed her and instead caught the raptor slicing it in two much the same way as Seras had just been.

The moment she hit the floor, Seras heard the sound of the discs being caught and the thud of heavy footsteps approaching her. From her position, lying on what was left of her back Seras stared up at Xar Ggothua and his friends.

"Anomaly is disabled. Suggest retrieving at a latter date."

"We have wasted too much time. Primary target is escaping."

"Propagation of the sera must be prevented. We must hurry."

With that said the three creatures made for the museum exit leaving Seras glaring at their retreating forms.

"Hey! Get back here you overgrown bugs!" Seras yelled at them and was promptly ignored. "Well this is just bloody typical." She turned to glare at the raptor that was happily chewing on her arm oblivious to its own legless state.

"You are _really_ gonna get it dino." Seras growled and prepared to pull herself together but paused as a very low vibration passed though the floor. Even the air seemed to resonate and there was a build-up of energy.

"What is that?" Seras pondered as every bone in her body vibrated with the throb. As suddenly as it started it ended leaving the area once again silent. The raptor had paused in its chewing, probably wondering the same thing Seras was.

"Weird." Seras stated aloud. "I hope Dirge has managed to put some distance between Xar and pals. I better get moving."

Giving the raptor one last glare that promised pain Seras' pieces seemed to dissolve into a wriggling black mass before bursting into hundreds of small bats. The swarm of bats circled the lobby once looking not unlike a black tornado before they shot upwards and out of the skylight and into the night.

------------

"I would like to know exactly what you have done to attract the attention of one of their generals." Nephthys stated towards Dirge as she drove the hearse down the highway. They had exited the city just a few minutes ago and were making steady progress towards the tunnel that would lead them to the Acropolis.

"I told you, I ain't seen them things before!" Dirge growled turning his attention to Nephthys. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "And what do you mean by one of their generals? You seem to know an awful lot about what's going on."

Nephthys glanced at Dirge from the corner of her eyes. It was obvious to her what Dirge was thinking.

"I assure you I know barely more than you do." Nephthys told him. "I became aware of their existence around four years ago and since then I've hunted their scouts. However every time I get close they vanish into thin air like ghosts. It is most…irritating."

In the back Zoe tuned out the conversation and crawled over to look out the rear in a vain hope that she would see Seras running to catch them up. All she could see was the highway vanishing into the darkness beyond and the huge black shape hovering in the sky behind them. A flash of blue light pulsed down the wings of the shape and Zoe's eyes widened in worry.

"You've hunted those things?" Dirge exclaimed in disbelief.

"Dirge." Zoe spoke turning back to face the large zombie.

"Their scouts are much smaller." Nephthys answered. Both paid the little girl no attention as they were deep in conversation.

"Dirge!" Zoe stated with more force trying to get his attention.

"How come I've never seen them about?" Dirge asked ignoring Zoe for now. He wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. What were those things and how did they know him?

"Dirge!" Zoe shouted.

"What?" Dirge bellowed in annoyance turning towards the rear of the hearse. "Oh…" Dirge's face showed his shock as he spotted the large craft rapidly gaining on them. The only way he could describe the craft was like a giant black manta ray hovering silently towards them.

"It would seem your friends have taken care of the vampire." Nephthys stated checking the rear-view mirror in worry.

**Chapter 7**

Dirge blinked his eyes in the hope that he was seeing things. Yep, there was still a huge black alien-looking craft flying almost silently behind them, rapidly closing the distance between itself and the battered hearse. Grabbing the window winding handle he quickly lowered the passenger side window and stuck his head out to get a better look.

The sleek black craft drifted closer and as he watched a pulse of blue energy began gathering around the three prongs, two placed at the tips of the wings and one above what he guessed was the cockpit. Energy began leaping off the prongs like lightening.

Dirge pulled his head back in quickly and turned to Nephthys. "Not good. I think they're going to fire on us."

"I noticed." Nephthys stated sounding calm even if she was not; after all she had appearances to keep. She watched the energy building up on the craft's weapons through the rear-view mirror, waiting for the right moment. "Hold on to something." she warned and twisted the steering wheel to the left just seconds before the craft fired.

Tires squealed in protest as the hearse lurched to the left narrowly avoiding the lighting like blast of energy that struck the road where they had just been moments ago. In the back Zoe and Cerberus were thrown around, the zombie dog managed to place itself between the side of the hearse so Zoe landed against him and not metal.

Dirge who was gripping the roof with one hand stuck his head out the window once again observing as the road behind them was vaporised. It was like a whole section of the highway had disappeared.

"Awww perfect." Dirge groaned as the craft began gathering more energy for a second blast.

Nephthys stared up ahead at the shapes rapidly approaching in the distance. It looked like some more abandoned cars. As the shapes began to become clear she noticed the big tanker ahead. Glancing in the rear-view mirror she guessed the weapons on the craft were almost charged.

"Brace yourselves." Nephthys informed her passengers as she steered towards the abandoned tanker.

"What are you doing?" Dirge yelled realising what was up ahead.

"Trust me." Nephthys said watching the craft readjust its aim. The Egyptian zombie paused a fraction of a second before hitting the brakes and the blast from the craft passed overhead barely missing them. The tanker up ahead was not so lucky and exploded in a red mushroom cloud even as Nephthys once more slammed the accelerator down.

The hearse had avoided the main force of the explosion but was still buffeted by the winds shaking its passengers about before diving into and through the flames. The abused vehicle burst out the other side of the flames as they began to turn into blackened smoke. The bonnet of the hearse was covered in small fires that quickly began to disappear as the wind whipped past. Inside the hearse Cerberus had dived on top of Zoe when the flames had come bursting in through the open windows and Zoe was now frantically patting the small fires on his fur out.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?" Dirge yelled at Nephthys while his nostrils were assaulted by the smell of singed flesh, fur and upholstery. At the back of his mind he absently wondered where exactly Nephthys had learned to drive like this.

Nephthys' cocky reply about them already being dead died in her throat when she noticed the craft was building up for another blast. Having had to hit the brakes had allowed the craft to close the gap and she knew they probably would not be able to avoid a third blast with their pursuers being almost on top of them.

"If you have any bright ideas, now would be the time to use them." Nephthys stated eyeing Dirge. Dirge glared back at her before turning to the rear. He saw Zoe looking pale and frightened in the back as she watched the two zombies in the front.

"Just one." Dirge stated as he began climbing over the seats into the back of the hearse. Once there he rushed over to the rear door and with a brutal kick knocked the door off its hinges. The hearse was filled with the sound of air whipping past as the door bounced off the road behind them.

"What are you doing?" Nephthys asked watching in the mirror as Dirge gripped the sides of the doorframe, bracing himself.

"Hold her steady!" Dirge shouted looking back over his shoulder.

With as much strength as he could muster Dirge launched himself out of the hearse and right at the black craft. His fingers just managed to catch hold of the craft's front end and he desperately hung onto it. The impact of him landing sent the nose pointing down enough as the weapons fired again, to harmlessly hit the highway. Dirge knew his fingers were slipping off as the craft rose higher into the air, adjusting itself to avoid slamming into the ground from the unexpected extra weight.

As the craft realigned itself Dirge's grip finally slipped off and he was sent tumbling away. As he fell past the wings he managed to pull the chain he carried off and whip it to catch onto one of the prongs. Dirge was left hanging onto the chain like a zombie shaped kite.

Back in the hearse Nephthys stared at the sight of Dirge pulling himself slowly up the chain towards the craft. The Egyptian zombie was impressed by his bravery but would not admit to it just yet.

"No wonder your friend is dead." Nephthys said to Zoe as the little girl watched Dirge in fascinated horror. "He's an idiot."

Dirge finally came within grabbing distance of the craft and caught hold of the prong that his chain was wrapped around. The body of the craft where he was currently gripping had surprised him when it had flexed under his grip, not at all like the hard shell it appeared. He slowly pulled himself onto it and with his free hand began pounding on the prong with his shovel.

The pilots of the craft must have noticed him as it began bucking up and down in an attempt to shake him off.

"You won't get rid of me that easily!" Dirge stated holding tighter onto the weapon. While he was pounding on the craft the middle weapon began crackling with energy and turned to aim directly at him.

"Awww perfect." Dirge moaned again and tried to think of something that he could do to avoid being hit.

Just when he was about to attempt to knock the weapon's aim off, the craft and Dirge became engulfed in a swarm of tiny black bats. Hundreds of the tiny creatures swarmed over him. The sound of hundreds of bats squeaking filled Dirge's ears as they seemed to gather around him and some even landed on him.

"What the hell?" Dirge yelled in complete confusion as some of the bats separated off and lifted him up and off of the craft, then proceeded to carry him away and back towards the speeding hearse.

The bats carried Dirge right into the hearse before he was dumped unceremoniously on the floor. Zoe and Cerberus ducked down to avoid the swarm as the bats flapped around the rear of the hearse just above their heads. Nephthys was glancing between the road ahead and the rear at the swarm of bats, despite wanting to know what was going on and her concern for the little girl she had to keep the speeding hearse from crashing. She just hoped Dirge could take care of what this was.

"What the hell?" Dirge repeated in shock once again as the bats began gathering in one spot.

"That is not natural." Nephthys stated the obvious while she steered the hearse between the narrow gap left between two abandoned cars. Behind them the craft began gaining height trying to lose the swarm of bats that surrounded it. The bats followed closely keeping the craft from getting a clear shot.

Dirge watched in confusion as the swarm of bats in the back began merging together like oil pouring into an invisible mold and began forming a shape. First a pair of boots appeared and then legs covered in combat fatigues. The bats continued merging into the legs forming a torso and arms before the last few bats were absorbed to create the head and a wide brimmed cowboy hat.

"Who…what…?" Dirge stated dumbly as he stared at the man who had just seconds ago been a load of bats. The man grinned towards Dirge, who absently noted the latest weirdo to appear had an eye-patch over one eye; before he casually flipping his long braid around his neck and lit the cigarette he held between his lips.

"The name's Pip Bernadotte monsieur zombie." Pip smirked putting his lighter away and glancing around the hearse, until his eye rested on the salvaged weapon from the tank that Seras had retrieved earlier that night. Kneeling down he began checking the weapon, expertly loading and checking it was working. "The boss sent me ahead to keep you guys safe while she distracts monsieur Ggothua and buddies."

"Boss?" Dirge asked warily as he faced the stranger on his knees.

"You really are slow." Pip sighed and Dirge bristled at the guy's mocking tone. "Seras sent me and she's just told me to get you to put Harkonnen together for her. She won't be able to keep em distracted forever."

"You know Seras?" three voices asked at the same time as Pip stood up brandishing the gun.

"I'm her number one familiar." Pip stated giving Nephthys a roguish grin and wink to which the Egyptian zombie rolled her eyes. "We're real close." Pip smirked casting a warning glance towards Dirge. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got a distraction to create."

Pip dropped to the floor and braced himself against the sides of the hearse, one foot against the rear door frame and aimed at the craft. He pulled the trigger and the weapon began spewing bullets. The bats had pulled back from the craft as the bullets began pelting against the craft's body. Sparks flew from the impact zones and the craft was rocked but stayed in the air easily enough.

Zoe covered her ears from the noise and Dirge crawled over to Seras' back pack. He quickly unzipped it and began to extract the pieces of Seras' gun. Dirge stared at the parts in disbelief.

"This thing's huge!" Dirge exclaimed in surprise. "How the heck can anyone fire this?"

"Heh! The boss can fire two of em at once my decomposed friend." Pip shouted over the noise of the gun. Dirge shook his head as he began to match the parts up, fortunately Seras was right about it being easy enough to assemble.

"Not to worry you men." Nephthys stated from the front. "But the tunnel is just up ahead. If you don't stop them soon we'll be leading them right to the humans in the Acropolis!"

"What?" Dirge's head appeared over the back of the seats and he grimaced as they entered the darkened tunnel, plunging the car into darkness. The only light was the bursts of gun fire coming from the rear of the hearse as Pip kept a steady stream of bullets flying towards the craft as it followed them effortlessly into the tunnel.

"Hurry up with Harkonnen monsieur zombie!" Pip stated noting he was almost out of rounds. "Wonder what the heck that things made of." Pip stated to himself as the weapons on the craft began charging again now that Seras had vanished.

"Hey buddy! I can't see anything now and you try putting this thing together without being able to feel anything!" Dirge shouted back frustrated.

"Quit bickering guys." Seras' voice stated right beside Dirge, which caused the large zombie to flinch in surprise. "I swear…I can't leave you alone for five minutes."

"Seras!" Zoe's voice rang out in answer as the girl rushed over towards the sound. Zoe tripped over Dirge's legs but Seras caught her easily and held the girl who hugged Seras tightly around the neck.

"Good to see you too Zoe." Seras smiled although the girl could not see it. "Nephthys." Seras turned to the driver. "The tunnel ahead is completely straight and the road is clear. Keep going straight full speed."

"How can you tell?" Nephthys asked glancing in the rear-view mirror at the pair of faintly glowing red eyes that she guessed was the vampire.

"Trust her." Dirge stated as two pieces he was trying to assemble clinked together. "She can see perfectly fine in the dark." Dirge's voice dropped to a mumble as he continued fumbling with the cannon. "Unlike me."

Nephthys pressed the accelerator to the floor and the hearse slowly began to pick up speed again, although it was almost at its limit now. In the back Pip took careful aim at the sparking weapons and fired catching the prong on the craft with the last few rounds. This luckily seemed to discharge the weapon buying them a few more seconds.

"I'm out!" Pip stated tossing the gun out the back.

"Here." Seras thrust Zoe into Dirge's arms causing the zombie to drop the barrel end part of Harkonnen on the floor. "Keep her out of the way."

Seras reached down and grabbed the barrel, flipped it around and began screwing it into place while Dirge retreated to lean against the back of the front seats holding Zoe close.

"Now we're cooking." Seras stated popping Harkonnen open so she could load a round. Reaching down she grabbed one of the retrieved rounds that were rolling around in the hearse and loaded it. With a clunk she snapped Harkonnen closed and calmly walked over to the rear of the speeding vehicle. Seras held the cannon under one arm and took careful aim.

"Cover your ears." Seras told the group and Dirge plugged his fingers in Zoe's ears. Having a couple of cold leathery fingers plugged in your ears was actually not very pleasant Zoe decided.

With a huge roar from the cannon Seras fired at the craft. The kickback from Harkonnen rocked the hearse and literally gave it a boost of speed and the rear was filled with gun smoke, which set Zoe off coughing.

The black craft was struck head-on by the large shell blowing most of the front of the craft completely off. It went into a spin before crashing into the ground and exploding with a gigantic boom that echoed through the tunnel. Dust and debris flew in every direction, and some bits of shrapnel caught Seras as she made sure nothing would hit Zoe behind her.

Nephthys let out a sigh of relief as the craft disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel and she eased up on the accelerator. Up a head she could finally see moonlight.

"Take that!" Seras grinned at the destruction of Xar Ggothua and his friends, even though she was disappointed that she had not been able to find out what they actually were. "Consider that payback for earlier Xar."

Soon the hearse exited the tunnel and Nephthys slowed the car down and finally parked up at the roadside. Up ahead was the Acropolis.

Seras hopped calmly out the back and easily held Harkonnen across her shoulders. Dirge followed her out and glanced around in confusion.

"Hey, where'd Pap go?" Dirge asked while Zoe climbed out the battered and burnt vehicle. Cerberus hopped out after her and shook himself.

"Pip, Dirge." Seras corrected him and tapped a finger against her head. "He's back in me now."

"You're going to explain that?" Nephthys asked as she got out the driver's side door, taking her scythe with her.

"Blood is the currency of the soul." Seras stated turning to face the group. "Every person or creature that I kill taking their blood becomes a part of me. I'm able to call upon them whenever I require."

"So…who was he?" Dirge asked curiously.

"A good friend." Seras stated sadly. "He sacrificed himself to give me the strength to fight our attackers. We're a good team." Seras looked up and smiled while pointing in the distance. "Enough of that, we're here though! Is that the Acropolis?"

Everyone turned to look in the direction Seras was pointing. There it was, the Acropolis. It was a former military base situated in a mountain. The only way in or out was over a narrow bridge that spanned a deep ravine, or the mag-rail line that exited both sides. The structure itself was a fortress, huge and pretty much a square. Large walls surrounded the main compound and mounted on top of the walls were row upon rows of guns, mostly electric powered and auto-aiming Gatling guns. Behind the walls and towards the back of the compound was the main building, standing high above the walls and right at the top was the Blackhawk helicopter parked on a helipad.

"Yes. We are here." Nephthys stated stepping away from the car and shutting the door.

"Finally." Dirge breathed gladly and walked over with Seras and Zoe to stand beside the Egyptian zombie and stare at the structure. Lights could be seen coming from various windows.

"Mom." Zoe whispered.

"The sentries' sights are tuned to body temperature, or lack thereof." Nephthys stated. "They will not fire at the child, but they will fire at you and..." Nephthys looked at Seras quizzically.

"Yeah, I'd guess they'd fire at me too." Seras stated.

"And how do you know that?" Dirge asked Nephthys with a sceptical glance. Nephthys just pointed towards a sign by the bridge. A cartoon zombie had been drawn onto it with the words: Already Dead? Watch your head!

"Oh." Dirge stated looking back at the bridge. "If we follow too far..."

"You cannot follow her, at least not past the first bio-scanner." Nephthys interrupted Dirge and pointed at the metal scanner halfway across the bridge. After the first scanner there were more arranged a few metres apart from each other. All were lit with a faint blue light; anything wanting to cross the narrow bridge would have to pass through them.

"It's actually a brilliantly simple defence against zombies." Seras stated with a nod as she placed Harkonnen back in the hearse. "At least your normal garden variety. That bridge is damned narrow and most would fall over the edge due to their lack of coordination. Any that don't, get picked off by the guns."

"True." Nephthys agreed.

"Are you sure there's not a side door?" Zoe asked turning back to face the group of dead people. Her face was utterly serious as she asked the question.

"I'm afraid not sweetheart." Nephthys said with a sad smile. "This is where our paths part."

"B...but..." Zoe stuttered her eyes misting.

"Zoe..." Seras knelt down to put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We can't go with you."

"Why?" Zoe asked quietly, her throat suddenly feeling sore.

Seras looked up at the sky, searching for the right words to explain to a six year old why living people would not accept them. "I'm a vampire, a creature people have feared for hundreds of years because we prey on the living. Even though I seem nice if I was around lots of people something bad might happen. I have certain instincts and cravings; I might lose control and kill. It's tempting fate."

"I don't want you to leave me." Zoe sobbed clutching onto Seras. "Or Dirge. Please stay!"

"Zoe..." Seras sighed feeling saddened and felt a liquid run down her cheek which surprised her. Wiping her cheek she realised it was blood, a tear of blood. She felt surprised that the thought of leaving this little girl could move her to tears so easily.

"You mom is waiting for you." Dirge stated patting the little girl's head and drawing her attention to him. "Real people, all waiting just behind those gates." He pointed towards the gates. "They're gonna be so happy to see you Zoe. Probably have a party waiting and everything."

"I don't want a party. I want you guys to stay with me." Zoe sniffed seeing through Dirge's attempt at distraction.

"I'm...we're not real people," Dirge stated glancing at Seras who nodded slightly letting him know she was going to play along. "Not anymore. There's no place for us behind that wall."

"I'll make one..." Zoe stated seriously.

"Zoe."

"No! I'll make you guys a place. You can stay with me! I'll make them see you're real people!" Zoe promised.

Nephthys stood at the back watching the scene playing out before her. It saddened her to watch but the truth was plain to see. They could not go with the girl. As she held the scythe in one hand her eyes caught movement behind them reflected in the blade; movement and a pulse of blue energy.

"It would appear your friends survived the crash." Nephthys informed Dirge and Seras. Dirge stared over Seras towards the tunnel just in time to see the three armoured beings step out of it and into the moonlight, seemingly unharmed from their encounter with Harkonnen.

"I don't believe it." Seras stated standing up and turning around to face Xar Ggothua and his cronies. Behind her Zoe backup away.

"Impediment identified," stated the one to Xar Ggothua's left, they were staring at Nephthys.

"One of six." The one on the right continued.

"It facilitates the sera." Xar Ggothua finished.

"Mr Ggothua!" Seras growled angrily stepping forward causing the three to exchanged glances, obviously confused at her presence. "Surprised to see me?"

Xar Ggothua stared at Seras, his head cocked slightly to one side before he spoke again. "Anomaly has reconstructed itself and gained distance upon us. Explain?"

"I told you before, I'm a vampire. Not my fault you didn't believe me." Seras stated with a smile as she walked past Nephthys and stopped placing herself between the zombies and Zoe and the three armoured creatures. "I was the bats that bothered you earlier."

"Perhaps there is credence to your words after all." Xar Ggothua admitted after a brief pause. "Vampire facilitates the sera. Eliminate."

"This will not end how you think it will." Nephthys told the creatures taking a step forward and making her scythe very apparent.

"Damn straight." Dirge growled pulling his shovel free.

"Back off." Seras whipped her right arm out indicating to the zombies to step back. "I owe these guys for earlier."

"But..." Dirge began to say but Seras interrupted him. "They're my prey now. Get Zoe out of here."

Dirge glanced at Nephthys and the pair backed away, both keeping themselves ready for an attack.

"Vampire is now unarmed."

"Its chances of causing us damage are vastly reduced."

"Eliminate."

Three bladed weapons once more popped out of armoured forearms with clunks and were pointed towards Seras.

"Wrong." Seras stated with a nasty smirk. "This time I'm through playing with you guys."

"As are we." Xar Ggothua agreed and the three fired.

Seras charged forward, running straight towards them and right in the path of the weapons. She closed the gap and with amazing dexterity reached out and caught a disc in each hand. One blade bursting through the back of each hand but she paid no attention to that. The third disc cut into her left shoulder but instead of passing through her a black wriggling, shadowy substance wrapped around the disc and held it tight.

The three beetle-like armoured creatures almost stepped back in surprise at Seras' display. The vampire's smirk turned downright evil as she launched herself toward Xar Ggothua, the ground behind her sunk into a slight depression from the force she exerted to jump.

Seras' right knee slammed into Xar Ggothua's face plate and there was a crunch as he was thrown backwards from the force of the impact. Seras followed him down and used his face as a springboard to launched herself up and over the heads of his subordinates who watched the vampire flip over them.

Landing just behind the two lumbering creatures, Seras whipped her arms out and spun around, slicing the discs towards the black armoured creatures' backs. She aimed for the flexible portions of the armour just above their hips and was rewarded with the discs easily piercing them. Both creatures reacted in pain and moved as fast as they could out of the way. A black oil-like substance splashed onto the ground and Seras absently noted it swirled and shimmered.

Although they were fairly quick for creatures of their size and weight, they could not outrun an angry vampire. Seras went for the one on her right first, closed the distance between them in the blink on an eye and thrust both discs she held in an upwards motion that crossed over as they passed through the creatures elbow joint, severing its forearm and hopefully its main weapon.

The creature stared dumbly at its missing arm, the black substance which Seras guessed was their blood dripping from the stump. Suddenly three black tentacles burst from the stump and tore towards Seras. Her eyes opened in surprise at this development; whatever they were under that armour they were capable of altering their shape.

Seras rolled to the right avoiding the attack and once again shot forward. _Let's see if they need a head_, Seras thought to herself thrusting the razor sharp disc up and through the creature's neck. She paused and watched its armoured head fall to the ground, black blood spurting from the severed tubes she had just noticed that ran to a tank on the creature's back, filled with a bubbling black substance. _Is that what they breathe_? Seras thought as the creature fell over dead with a crash.

------------

Xar Ggothua climbed to his knees unsteadily as he felt the connection to one of his bodies was terminated. They had underestimated the vampire, if that was what it truly was. His faceplate had been damaged enough that he could feel the temperature of outside seeping into his armour and was unable to see out now. Through his connection to the other body he sensed it loose an arm just like the first body had to the vampire.

He calculated that their chances of surviving this encounter had dropped from over ninety percent to less than ten. He had to destroy the sera, it was a threat to their existence...if he failed...he did not need to be reminded their species would be destroyed. Sending a command to the remaining body to keep the vampire distracted, he decided he had no other choice than a suicide attempt. If he succeeded perhaps the Xin Jithoth would look kindly on his sacrifice and restore him to the hive. He would rise again as three more; the Hands of God were forever renewable.

His path set Xar Ggothua reached up and tore off his face plate, exposing himself to the elements but allowing him to see once again. He did not have long to live now, they could only survive out on the surface for a short time without their armour. He would make these last few minutes count.

------------

Dirge and Nephthys watched in stunned silence as Seras started demolishing the creatures with ease, the largest was sent crashing down and the second soon lost its head.

"She is...impressive." Nephthys finally stated as Seras began playing with the second one.

"Yeah." Dirge agreed and frowned as the big one climbed to its knees and grabbed its face plate.

Zoe watched on from just behind Dirge's legs as Xar Ggothua tore his face plate and most of his helmet completely off, tossing the now useless portions away. Eight bright blue glowing eyes blinked in a strangely robotic manner and fixed themselves on her. Zoe backed away terrified at the look of absolute hatred that was suddenly directed at her from the monster.

"What the hell are they?" Dirge gasped at the sight of Xar Ggothua's true face. His head was ridged and tapered to a triangular point. Row's of sharp teeth lined his maw, his bottom jaw stuck slightly past the top. His eyes were arranged in two rows of four that ran down his large noseless alien face. Dirge was unsure whether he had skin or armour plating due to the creature's skin being completely black.

Xar Ggothua appeared to strain before a multitude of black tentacles burst from his armoured back, shattering more of the armour and sending a black substance flying. The tentacles began whipping around violently and with a roar he charged towards them.

"Zoe! Run!" Dirge commanded raising his shovel, for all the good he expected it to do as Xar Ggothua thundered right towards them, his footsteps thudding. Dirge did not check to see if Zoe had listened, all that was going through his mind was they had to prevent this thing from getting past. To his side Nephthys paused in shock, the sight of Xar Ggothua's face caused a memory of screams to flash though her head.

"Look out!" Dirge's warning snapped her back to the present just in time for a tentacle to whip across her torso knocking the Egyptian zombie flying backwards and off the cliff face.

"Nephthys!" Zoe was heard shouting and Dirge turned to face the girl.

"Get out of here!!" Dirge bellowed at Zoe as the girl paused in fright. That was when the tentacles burst from his chest. "Aww crap." Dirge stated as he was lifted into the air. Zoe finally snapped out of her shock and took Dirge's advice, she ran towards the gates across the long narrow bridge.

Dirge was swung in a high arc before being thrown away to land with a crunch face first into the road behind Xar Ggothua. The black monster barely paused as he turned to his target that was attempting to escape, he lumbered after it only to have a zombie dog dive out of nowhere onto his back.

Xar Ggothua roared in annoyance as Cerberus bit down onto him. Tentacles reached down and grabbed the zombie dog, wrapping themselves tightly around his torso before yanking Cerberus off. Xar Ggothua raised the zombie dog above his head and with a triumphant roar tore it in two before discarding the pieces over the edge of the bridge. Xar Ggothua paused as he felt his second body die as the vampire thrust the second body's own disc weapon through its chest. He had to hurry and destroy the sera before the vampire caught up with him.

Dirge was back on his feet and seeing red at his dog being ripped apart like that. He rushed after Xar Ggothua, now sporting a gaping hole right through his chest. Before he could close the gap between them the armour plated monstrosity passed through the first biosensor. The blue light was broken as Xar Ggothua passed though, outlining his shape before reconnecting leaving the light whole again. The sensor gave a cheery beep indicating Xar Ggothua had registered as alive.

"Zoe!" Dirge bellowed in frustration as they were now beyond his reach.

"Dirge where's Zoe?" Seras shouted running over. She was covered in splashes of the black substance and one arm was completely coated in it.

"Crossing the bridge with the big one right behind her!" Dirge threw his shovel to the ground in frustration. "And they're beyond the sensors now. We can't follow!"

"We can't go through the sensors but I can go over them!" Seras growled before she exploded into a swarm of bats once more, shooting up into the sky and leaving Dirge by himself. The only thing he could do now was watch.

------------

Zoe ran like her life depended on it, which it actually did. She passed through sensor after sensor; each beeped cheerily which she paid no attention to. The rhythmic thudding on heavy footsteps vibrated through the narrow bridge behind her spurring her on and the roaring would haunt her dreams if she got out of this.

Zoe risked a glance over her shoulder and wished she had not at the sight of the gigantic black monster chasing her, tentacles whipping above its head angrily. Eight hate filled eyes glaring at her for reasons she did not understand.

A tentacle shot out and wrapped itself around her midsection and Zoe was lifted off the ground and dragged roughly towards Xar Ggothua who opened his jaws and letting out a pleased hiss. Zoe stared transfixed at the monstrous face as more tentacles moved towards her, intent on tearing her to pieces.

The swarm of bats that came out of nowhere caught both Zoe and Xar Ggothua by complete surprise. They battered around his head blocking his vision and a bunch grouped together right beside Zoe forming into Seras' torso and one arm; holding a certain razor sharp disc. Seras gave a smirk toward Xar Ggothua before slicing the tentacle holding Zoe clean off.

Xar Ggothua let out a bellowing roar, a cross between pain and anger while Seras fully formed herself. Catching Zoe out of the air she leapt high into the air and covered the last metres on the bridge to land safely in front of the Acropolis gates.

Seras let Zoe down gently before standing to face Xar Ggothua who was bellowing his frustration to the sky. His arms thrown back in rage and his tentacles were flailing around even more violently than ever.

"Stay here Zoe." Seras said calmly already having decided how Xar Ggothua was going to die. "No matter what happens, I'll be fine."

"Seras..." Zoe gasped seconds before the vampire sprinted back towards the bridge and then leapt high into the air. Seras soon closed the distance to Xar Ggothua who whipped his tentacles right at the descending vampire.

Seras avoided all but one which wrapped itself around her right arm and yanked her downwards. She landed on the bridge in a crouch and yanked back on the tentacle turning this conflict into a tug of war between herself and Xar Ggothua. Surprisingly Xar Ggothua held his ground even against Seras' immense strength and even more amazingly the tentacle did not tear.

With a roar Xar Ggothua squeezed the tentacle wrapped around Seras' arm causing her arm to be crushed under the pressure before being tore clean off. Seras grinned despite the pain and stood slowly allowing another tentacle to catch her cheek leaving a nasty red welt.

"Is this it? Is this all the hand of God can achieve?" Seras mocked as a shadowy black formless shape grew from the remains of her shoulder forming a wriggling wing like appendage which began effortlessly blocking Xar Ggothua's tentacles.

"Show me the power of your God!" Seras commanded stepping forward and attacking Xar Ggothua with her own version of his tentacle attacks. Xar Ggothua was driven back, loosing another pair of tentacles to the vampire's copy of his own abilities. He was shocked when Seras began to turn into just a black mass and hundreds of red eyes opened in the darkness of her body that pressed forward, driving him back.

The pain of suffocating and the heat of the surface was finally taking its toll on him and Xar Ggothua dropped to one knee in agony. He had been beaten, the vampire had won. He raised his head in a futile defiant gesture as Seras' head and torso reformed and she reached out to caress his face almost tenderly as she leaned in close.

"And now Xar, you'll tell me everything." Seras stated with a shark-like grin before she lunged forward to sink her teeth into his neck. The world around them seemed to vanish as Seras drank the foul tasting liquid. It was not anything like human blood that was certain, and the memories seemed to resist her.

Seras became aware of more than just Xar Ggothua's consciousness as hundreds of blue lights floated about them in the darkness. Seras paused in her feeding as whispers in a language she could not understand broke around them.

"Intruder has breached the hive." A voice stated in English and Seras knew it was talking to her.

"Unacceptable."

"Xar Ggothua's defeat has revealed us to an outsider."

"Terminate connection."

As the lights vanished Seras and Xar Ggothua were cut off from whatever that had been. Whatever it was Xar Ggothua reacted as if he had been doused in freezing cold water and an electric toaster dropped into it for good measure. He burst to his feet dragging Seras with him, fear giving him renewed strength.

"No!" he roared in terror as for the first time he was completely alone, a completely alien experience for one such as himself. He was cut off from the hive. He would never have a chance to rise again now.

Xar Ggothua backed away shaking, right through the bio-scanner behind him dragging Seras who was still biting into his neck though with him. The sensor gave an angry beep and the light above turned red, seconds before every robotic sentry gun on the wall aimed at them. With each gun being capable of delivering three thousand rounds per minute both Seras and Xar Ggothua were to all intents vaporised as thousands of bullets tore them to pieces. Soon anything left of them had fallen over the sides of the narrow bridge which had suddenly developed the consistency of swish cheese. The section of the bridge creaked and groaned before collapsing into the ravine below.

At opposite ends of the bridge two very different people both screamed out one word. "Seras!"

Zoe dropped to her knees stunned at the sight of her protector who had seemed invincible being destroyed. So caught up in her shock she did not hear the gates open behind her and she barely felt the hands that grasped her and dragged her away.

Dirge stared at the spot Seras had just been in shock, totally unbelieving what he had just witnessed. Even though he had seen Seras' amazing ability to repair damage Dirge suspected she would not be returning this time. He glanced around, no sign of Nephthys nor Cerberus, both probably somewhere at the bottom of the ravine, maybe still aware. He felt hollow and glanced over across the bridge towards Zoe who had vanished from sight. At least Zoe had been returned to safety he thought to himself picking up his shovel.

Thinking on how Seras had fought tooth and nail and made the ultimate sacrifice to save Zoe, Dirge made a promise. He would watch over the little girl and the humans in that place. There were creatures out there worse than zombies as this night had proven to him.

"Well, I better see if anyone did survive..." Dirge stated and began the descent into the ravine in search of survivors.

------------

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No," Dirge replied. "At least not what I expected."

"What will she tell them? About the people that saved her?"

"Who cares? It's not important."

"Isn't it?"

"She's with her own kind now. That's all that matters." Dirge stated turning the face Nephthys in the morning light as they stood on the roof of a hospital. The hospital had plenty of equipment that could be used to produce repairs to such as themselves. "She'll be safe as long as she stays put." Of course Dirge thought how likely was that?

Beside him, Cerberus sat patiently. The dog had a fresh coat of fur that hid the repairs Dirge had had to make to him. Dirge patted the zombie dog on the head, of course neither felt it.

"Does it make it easier for you," Dirge asked. "Believing we're meant to suffer for some greater purpose?"

"The right path is rarely spacious. Which is how we learn where we're supposed to go."

"You're saying I was meant to help her?"

"I'm saying, everything happens for a reason." Nephthys stated. Beside her a certain zombie velociraptor stepped up with a click of claws on cement. It too had been repaired.

"Even us?"

"Even us."

The pair stared out across the silent city as the new day brightened in silence and Dirge thought about Seras. He pondered whether if she had survived, would she have been out here with them? Or would she have gone on her way?

"Dirge." Nephthys spoke and he turned to face her. "The child may be home, but you know she will never be safe. Not while those creatures inhabit the earth. What happens when they track her down again? What happens when they find her?"

"Then they'll find me." Dirge stated with absolute certainty. He had his purpose now and Nephthys smiled, a true friendly smile.

------------

"Hello, you must be Zoe's mother." A female voice with a British accent startled Zora Elgin awake in her chair. Zora blinked tiredly and brushed her purple shoulder length hair out of her eyes to see an unfamiliar nurse smiling down at her. Zora quickly glanced over at the bed where Zoe was sound asleep and let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding. The rhythmic beep of the monitoring machines Zoe was hooked up to sounded constantly around the room.

"Yes, I am." Zora replied hiding a yawn. Glancing down at herself she realised how wrinkled her grey dress stroke labcoat was. She must have fallen asleep watching over Zoe. The previous night had been hell for her. She thought she had lost her little girl forever and then just before dawn she was found right outside the gates. Somehow she had travelled over sixty miles in nine hours through some of the worst cold zones (their designation of zombie infested areas) and arrive relatively unharmed. There were all kinds of weird theories running around the base about that, but all Zora cared for now was that Zoe was back and she was safe.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The blond haired nurse smiled before continuing. "You must be tired to have fallen asleep in such an uncomfy chair. Why don't you go home and get some proper rest in your own bed? Zoe will be completely safe now."

"I can't not yet." Zora replied studying the nurse. She did not recognise her and that was odd as they were such a small community that everyone knew everyone else.

"Zoe is safe. You're tired. You should get some rest in your own bed." The nurse stated slowly and Zora suddenly found the idea of sleeping in her own bed extremely tempting.

"I think...that's a good idea. Zoe is safe now." Zora stated standing up and with a last check on the sleeping girl and a quick kiss to her forehead, Zora walked past the nurse. She paused in the doorway and turned to look back and for the first time noticing the packet of blood the nurse was carrying.

"What is that for?" Zora asked confused.

"This?" the nurse pointed at the blood. "Just a small blood transfusion...nothing to worry about."

"Transfusion. Nothing to worry about." Zora stated a confused look on her face. "What was your name again?"

"Oh sorry." The nurse smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm Seras. I'll make sure nothing happens to Zoe. In fact, while you get some rest I'll stay and watch her for you. You can count on me!" Seras nodded her head enthusiastically and Zora found something immensely comforting about the nurse's dedication about watching Zoe for her.

"Thank you Seras." Zora said walking out the small room and Seras waved her goodbye.

Seras' smiled faded once the door closed and she dropped into the chair beside Zoe's bed. It was still warm where Zora had been sleeping. Deep in thought Seras automatically bit into the tube leading from the blood pack and began sipping it slowly. Inside her head a certain creature was refusing to talk to her but it was only a matter of time before she broke it down and then she would hopefully discover exactly why those creatures had wanted Zoe dead.

All she knew for certain was that there were a lot of them somewhere on the planet and they all hated Zoe. Sometime they would make another move to eliminate the girl. A smirk crossed Seras' face as she thought of the upcoming battles that were bound to occur in the future. She had decided this was far too big to walk away from and would stay and protect the little girl until such time that it was unnecessary.

Of course the fact that they had a rather well stocked supply of blood in the medical area and they were required to keep it stocked for the wellbeing of all citizens had nothing to do with it. Well, she was a citizen now Seras reasoned with a smile.

"I can't wait to see your face when you wake up Zoe." Seras grinned and leaned back casually in the chair and enjoyed her drink.

**The Variant and the Vampire: The Sickness**

I don't own either Hellsing or Xombie. I suggest reading the first part to understand what is going on.

Chapter 1

The Acropolis, one of the few human bastions of life remaining on earth stood bathed in the light from the waning moon on a warm and cloudless July night. Surrounded on three sides by a deep man-made ravine and one side embedded deep within a cliff face it was a nigh on impenetrable fortress. The main structure itself was shaped in a rough square that looked suspiciously like a sandcastle, as if someone had taken a gigantic child's sandcastle shaped bucket, filled it with cement and dropped it onto the cliff face.

Surrounding the main building were the yard and the gardens where all the food was grown. The survivors had to exist on what was mostly a vegetarian diet as most animals would develop a sudden taste for human flesh when you killed them. Surrounding the yard and gardens was a huge thick wall. Mounted on the top of the wall were electric powered auto aiming Gatling guns, each tuned to fire on moving targets that had no pulse or body temperature.

A mag-rail line was one of three ways into the Acropolis. The second was by helicopter, the base had one rescued Blackhawk. The final way was over a narrow bridge, which had been repaired from the damage it had suffered almost six years previous, when a six year old girl had been brought across it to safety by a vampire and an intelligent zombie.

Said girl was currently sneaking around in the darkened bowels of the Acropolis.

Zoe carefully peeked around a corner and peered into the darkened corridor beyond, checking carefully for movement. The lighting down here was of very low wattage due to the fact that the only time people came down here was to fix leaks or electrical problems. As such having lights down here was not a priority as far more important devices to the continued human survival required power first.

Being almost always empty was a great advantage to Zoe on her current endeavour. Another advantage was that there were no cameras or bio-scanners down here that she might trip due to the fact that if zombies had gotten into the basement and maintenance areas, the base was lost already. This was an almost forgotten corner of the Acropolis and as such made for the perfect escape route.

Zoe had grown in the last six years, but still remained short for her age which was expected as she took after her mother in appearance and stature. She was currently dressed in her casual clothing, loose fitting and worn olive cargo's that were a fraction too short for her now, a grey t-shirt with a raven on it and a ionic scent cancelling vest that would hide her presence from zombies. Her right eye had a thick scar, one she received from the zombie gulls on that beach where Seras had rescued her. Strangely the scar tissue had gone a light lilac in colour, almost matching her hair.

The recently gone twelve year old pulled out the rough map she had drawn up through careful studying of the base layout diagrams she had found in her mother's computer and traced the line she had drawn in red pencil. Brushing her shoulder length purple hair out of her eyes Zoe continued to analyze the map while chewing on her lower lip.

"Okay...straight down here and there should be the entrance into the air vents at the end of the corridor. It's hidden behind some pipes." Zoe quietly stated to herself. "The vents should come out near the mag-rail station. There I can hide in the train which should be leaving soon with a scavenger team."

Zoe grinned to herself. This time she would definitely get out. Once out all she had to do was find Dirge once again and then...well she would think of something. Anything was better than being cooped up in this place with a bunch of people that thought she was crazy.

Zoe grimaced in annoyance as memories of being quarantined away in the medical wing for nearly six months after recovering from her ordeal beyond the gates bubbled up through her mind. No one had believed her about Dirge. _There's no such thing as an intelligent zombie_ and _stop lying Zoe_ were their favourite sayings and eventually Zoe had given up on trying to make people believe her, instead settling for paying lip service to agreeing that zombies could not be intelligent and vampires did not exist. She knew the truth, but the attitude of the adults towards her and her 'crazy stories' had washed off on her peers and Zoe had ended up being known as weird and as such had very few friends.

The worst thing though had been Seras not backing her up at all. Zoe had been so happy to find Seras at her bedside when she had woken up and when Seras had denied all knowledge of what had happened had felt completely betrayed by the vampire. Zoe had been so adamant about Seras not being human that her mother had finally given in and ran some tests on her. Zoe still had not gotten a reasonable explanation out of Seras as to how she passed the tests, but she suspected it was something like hypnosis.

It had been months before Zoe talked to Seras again, even after Seras had explained why and continued to apologise almost every night and brought peace offerings to her, usually sweets and such, which the vampire must have gotten from outside the base. Back then Zoe had no idea why Seras was hiding, although soon after her release back into society Zoe began to understand why Seras done what she had. Being different even if only in what you believed made people treat you like an illness that needed curing, but it still hurt that Seras had not helped back then.

Shaking her head to clear the memories Zoe folded the map back up and placed it into her small backpack she was carrying, which contained a few bits and pieces. A small torch, a few bits of fruit, a canteen of water and an old screwdriver were all she had had time to sneak into it.

Quickly and quietly Zoe moved down the corridor, carefully checking behind the pipes for people and the ceilings especially for a certain vampire that might catch her trying to leave. Seras had thwarted a few of Zoe's previous attempts at leaving and Zoe was now pretty good at spotting the vampire, although Zoe had the sneaking suspicion that Seras had been using her escape attempts at training her in moving stealthily and noticing the little things that gave away the fact you were being hunted.

While she was creeping down the corridor, keeping to the shadows one of the dim lights flickered and Zoe froze before slowly glancing around. Was that Seras? Zoe checked carefully but there was no sign of the vampire, although that meant nothing when she could turn invisible. Zoe could not feel Seras' distinct presence but again, the vampire was capable of hiding that.

She waited in the dim light silently and strained to hear anything that was not the base's natural noises. Pipes hissed with escaping gases and various machinery hummed throughout the basement but no cocky British accented voice whispered in her ear, one of Seras' favourite tricks when she caught you sneaking out.

Zoe let out an annoyed breath. Well, if Seras was playing with her there was nothing she could actually do about it. Zoe straightened up and crossed the final distance to the pipes that hid the entrance to the base's air vents. The almost teenager reached up and gripped onto one of the pipes and grimaced at the grease and dirt that stuck to her fingers.

"Yuck." Zoe groaned quietly and wiped the dirt on her cargos before climbing up and onto the various coloured pipes. The young girl carefully leaned forwards, hands outstretched and mere millimetres before she would fall caught hold of the vertical drainage pipe she needed to climb. Zoe wrapped her arms and legs around the pipe until sure she would not slip and began to carefully shimmy up it until she came level with the vent.

Taking the screwdriver out of her backpack the young girl proceeded to attempt to prise the vent cover from the wall by digging the tip of the screwdriver under the slight gap between them. After a few pokes it became obvious that the vent cover was well stuck as it stubbornly refused to pop free. Zoe growing impatient gave the screwdriver a slightly too vicious yank which sent the cover flying free, where it bounced off the pipes nosily before crashing to the ground.

Zoe winced as the noise echoed throughout the basement, hanging onto the pipe she waited for the inevitable sound of running footsteps. When nothing occurred she opened her eyes slowly, one at a time. Nothing, Zoe blinked disbelievingly that the noise had not alerted anyone but knowing pursuit could be on its way now she quickly stowed the screwdriver away before leaning away from the pipe and grabbing hold of the vent edges.

Once sure she had a firm grip she unwrapped her legs from the pipe and ended up dangling from the opening. With arms straining Zoe slowly pulled herself up, her feet slipping as sometimes she could not quite get a firm purchase on the cement wall. Finally Zoe managed to get most of her body into the vent and relaxed, her legs dangling loosely from the vent opening.

"Phew!" Zoe exclaimed rubbing a forearm across her brow. Her voice echoed strangely down the square vent which seemed far smaller than the last time she had hid in one. Of course she realised that was a few years back. Staring forward she was met with complete and total darkness that to most kids her age could be scary. To Zoe, whose real friends were of the undead variety the darkness was nothing to be scared of, she knew what she should fear and it was not the dark even if it or rather they lived in darkness.

Zoe soon pulled the torch from her pack and flipped the switch which revealed the dull metal interior of the vent in all its boring glory. A faint breeze blew down this shaft, probably from one of the large extractor fans that she had to be careful of avoiding.

There was only one way to go and Zoe set off, hoping that the schematics she had studied were current. Soon Zoe was covered in the dirty dust that lined the bottom of the vent as she slowly and sometimes noisily inched her way through it. After crawling for seemingly miles in almost total darkness and the same featureless walls she finally spotted a light source up ahead.

Switching off her torch and putting it back in her pack, Zoe continued inching along until she could look out from between the horizontal slats of another vent cover. Peering into the area beyond she gave a quiet triumphant noise, this was where she wanted to be. Now all she had to do was get the vent cover off and hide in the train.

After pushing the vent cover did not work she once more got her trusty screwdriver out and tried tapping the cover free. When that did not work Zoe began hammering the cover with the screwdriver handle until the cover finally dropped off and landed with a clatter. She popped her head out and looked around. A few crates dotted the loading bay but aside from that the place seemed empty.

That was when Zoe realised she should have gone backwards through the vent as getting out would mean falling headfirst towards the ground.

"Bloody 'ell." Zoe stated mimicking Seras' accent. Maybe if she could use her feet to anchor herself in the vent and stretched her arms out she could fall onto her hands and roll without breaking her neck. She would just have to try it; there was no way after getting this far that a fall out of some vent would stop her.

Zoe wiggled herself forward until she was halfway out the vent and then placed her hands against the wall. That was when the black and grey armoured base guards all stepped out from behind the crates and rushed over. Two of them grabbed Zoe's arms and roughly yanked the girl out of the vent where they then held her suspended in the air while the team leader stepped forward.

"Zoe Elgin. Why am I not surprised." Corporal Argento sighed with a shake of his head. "This is the third time in as many weeks. What are we going to do with you?"

Argento was every inch your typical military man. Tall and broad shouldered, somewhere in his late forties with dark hair beginning to grey at the temples and no matter what time of day you caught him his square jaw seemed to have a permanent five o'clock shadow.

"You could just let me leave?" Zoe stated hopefully with a fake smile plastered onto her dirt covered face.

"And let you put everyone in this base in danger?" Argento stated leaning in close. "Your actions won't just affect you; they could affect everyone living here. Escort her back to her room."

The two guards turned with Zoe still held in the air and proceeded to walk towards the loading bay exit that led back into the base.

"Hey! I can walk you know." Zoe exclaimed grumpily to the two goons carrying her which they promptly ignored. "Jerks."

Zoe stared stubbornly ahead, ignoring the looks and whispers from the people she was paraded past having long since gotten used to them.

"It's that crazy girl again."

"Must have tried escaping once more."

"They should just let her go get herself killed. She'd be less trouble."

Soon Zoe was pushed roughly into her room and the door slid shut with a clunk. Immediately Zoe spun and pressed the button to open the door. There was a beep.

"Access denied." A computer generated voice stated. Zoe angrily kicked the door before tossing her pack into a corner and diving onto her bed, dirtying the covers. She rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling. Zoe knew she was being watched through the camera in her room, the one that had been installed soon after her first couple of escape attempts. Despite being upset at her failure to escape she was not going to cry, she would not give them the satisfaction of thinking they had beaten her.

------------

Zora Elgin hurried across the short distance between the lab/hospital area and the living quarters. There were a couple of people still about this late, who nodded towards her which she returned politely, her mind on other things than stopping for small talk. Zoe had been caught trying to leave the base, again.

Zora sighed in frustration at Zoe's antics, which had once been called a phase she would grow out of but instead Zoe had gotten worse, even more determined to leave and find this Dirge she claimed had brought her back. Zoe also claimed Dirge was a zombie who still had a mind.

Even more fantastic was that Zoe claimed Seras; the trainee nurse who worked under Zora and was a good friend was not human but a vampire, a mythical creature that drank the blood of the living. As the doors opened to admit Zora, she almost scoffed at that. She had known Seras for…how long had she known Seras?

Zora paused in the doorway with a frown decorating her face. She could not actually remember how long she had known her friend Seras, which was strange. The more she thought on it the fuzzier the memories of Seras seemed to be before the night Zoe had been returned to her, like looking through smoke.

A beep and the automatic doors half closing before reopening snapped Zora out of her contemplations and the slim woman set off again towards Zoe's room. Zora shook her head in amusement, if she could not trust her own memories whose could she trust?

Zora rounded a corner and a group of survivors who were talking quietly amongst themselves paused to stare as she passed them by. Zora ignored them knowing instinctively they must have been talking about Zoe; they must have witnessed Zoe being dragged back to her quarters. Zora was quite aware of what most people's attitudes were towards her daughter.

Zora stopped to stand outside of Zoe's room, her shadow cast upon the door and half raised her hand to the keypad that was the lock for the door. She paused wondering what she was going to say to Zoe, wondering what exactly she could do to get Zoe to stop these silly attempts at leaving. Could Zoe not see this was the safest place for her, right here with her? Outside in the cold zones it was almost impossible to stay safe for any length of time, zombies would eventually find you.

Zora drew a deep breath and schooled her features into a disproving frown; she had put off long enough and tapped the buttons on the number pad in the correct sequence. There was an approving beep and the door slid open allowing Zora to step inside.

"Access granted." Stated the computer generated voice and Zora stepped into Zoe's room. Zoe was lying on her bed, arms behind her head and glaring angrily at one spot on the ceiling and gave no indication she had heard the door open. Zora noticed the dirt covering her daughter and the bed covers, obviously the vents were filthy.

"This is the third time this month Zoe." Zora stated as the door closed behind her and she walked over towards Zoe. "If you keep this up they might put you in lockdown again. Do you really want that to happen?"

The girl didn't move but gave an annoyed grunt at which Zora sighed before wandering over to the bed and sat down on it next to Zoe.

"Zoe, please just tell me one thing...why?"

"Because I hate this place!" Zoe burst out still glaring at the ceiling. "And the way people talk about me!"

"But this is our home Zoe." Zora stated while placing a hand gently on one of Zoe's legs. "We're safe here."

"Home?" Zoe laughed sitting up and pulling her legs into a cross-legged position. "This is a prison where everyone is just waiting to die. I'd be better off outside with my friends."

"Zoe your friends can't exist. There's never been a case of intelligence surviving in any zombie ever document..."

"Documented?" Zoe interrupted waving her arms in a circle. "Yeah well, they ain't just going to walk up to us and say hi with those guns."

"We've analysed and searched for a cure against Nekrosis for years. The virus is well studied and we know what it does even if we don't understand how. Between..." Zora tried to explain why a zombie could not retain intelligence.

"One to five minutes after death it seizes control of the host's central nervous system, restores basic motor controls, sight, hearing, sense of smell and taste but nothing else. It causes the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of the brain to shrink blocking off the ability to reason and access to memories and only leaves an instinct to feed on flesh. Yeah, yeah I know the lessons off by heart." Zoe recited sounding annoyed. "And I also know that's not always true!"

Zora let out a resigned sigh. "When are you going to grow out of this? Believing in this fantasy of yours?"

"When are _you_ going to believe me?" Zoe snapped back. "You think I'm as crazy as people say too. That hurts _mom_!"

"No I don't." Zora replied. "You had a traumatic experience and the mind plays funny tricks when that happens. I know you truly believe what you think happened really did, but this is the real world honey, not some film."

"Whatever." Zoe leaned back arms crossed and pouted angrily. "Dirge is real. Nephthys is real and Seras is a bloody real blood sucking vampire."

"Please stop calling Seras that." Zora admonished, her voice rising as she defended her friend. "Seras is a really nice person!"

"Yeah she is." Zoe agreed easily and Zora felt some of the tension vanish. "For a blood sucker!"

"Zoe Elgin!" Zora stood up in exasperation, hands on hips and glared down at Zoe. "Don't say such hurtful things."

"Why? It's only the truth!" Zoe told her mother with a faint smirk playing across her face.

Zora stared down at her daughter in frustration. If Zoe kept pushing her like this she might just say something she would regret later. _Amazing the way kids could push the right buttons to annoy you so easily sometimes_, Zora thought to herself.

"I can see you're not in any mood to listen to me tonight." Zora stated, her tone indicating her annoyance. "I'll come back later when you've cooled off." With that said Zora turned and walked away. She pressed the button to open the door and once the door slid open Zora paused to look back at Zoe. The young girl had gone back to glaring at the ceiling.

"If only your father were still here." Zora whispered before leaving the room.

------------

Seras let out a sigh of relief as the last of the instruments she had been cleaning, cataloguing and storing back on the shelves was finally placed in its designated position and she could finally close the cabinet. The metal door with a large glass panel clicked as she closed it. Seras stood up slowly and stretched, her back making popping noises as she did.

"Thank god that's over with." Seras stated to the empty laboratory. Zora had been asked to have a stock take of all their current medical equipment as there was going to be another scavenger team sent out into the cold zone. If there was anything they desperately needed they had to get the details to Lieutenant Soren soon. It was times like this Seras regretted pretending to be part of the laboratory/medical team.

Seras picked up the clipboard and finished writing down the items they had. Half of the stuff she had no idea what it did, especially as she had never needed to keep current with human medical technology. Most of it seemed like it was something out of a sci-fi series to her.

The vampire rolled her head, loosening her stiff neck and pulled on the annoyingly tight neck of the long grey overcoat that went nearly to your chin, the one that all the engineering/medical/laboratory staff wore. It was the standard dress code that said they weren't just ordinary citizens of the Acropolis, just like the guards all wore the same grey and black armour.

Seras rubbed her eyes, they felt tired. Actually she felt tired...rundown, almost like she had a cold coming on. That was strange Seras contemplated as she wandered towards the room's exit, since when did she get ill? Oh yeah, Nekrosis. Maybe she had gotten too much contact with the infected being around all these people since they all carried the virus. Or maybe she was just tired from the boring stock take.

With a flick of a switch located nearby the door, Seras turned the lights off. They were drilled in switching things off here as every bit of power they saved was vital to their continued survival. From what she could gather the Acropolis' generator normally lasted a year and then they needed to replace the energy cells which could not be charged at the Acropolis, they had to go outside to charge them.

Seras pressed the button to open the door and stepped out into the corridor beyond and headed towards the exit of the medical wing. With her stock take finished all she had to do now was to hand it over to Zora, then she would be free to do whatever she wanted the rest of the night. Maybe she would have fun with Camden again, that was always amusing. She now had the poor guy convinced the base was haunted.

Seras smirked as her thoughts turned to Zora and the message that had come over her communicator barely twenty minutes earlier. Someone had sent an anonymous tip that Zoe Elgin was creeping around in the basement heading towards the air ducts. Poor Zoe would be back in her room by now pouting, no doubt cursing Seras for ratting on her.

"Seras!" Zora's voice called out distracting Seras from her thoughts and she looked ahead to see Zora walking hurriedly over to her. Zora looked...stressed Seras thought to herself as her friend drew up to her.

"Hi Zora," Seras greeted and presented the stock take she had done. "I've gotten that stock take done for you."

"Oh, thanks." Zora absently stated while taking the clipboard from Seras.

"You look a little stressed." Seras admitted. "Did Zoe try escaping again?"

"Yes she did." Zora let out a tired sigh. "I just don't know what to do with her anymore."

Seras studied her friend, she looked tired and depressed would be the word Seras would use to describe Zora's body language. It looked like Zoe's continuous attempts at leaving were taking their toll on Zora. Seras came to the conclusion that if this continued Zora and Zoe may end up seriously falling out with each other and it would be partly her fault. Zora did not believe Zoe's story, she was a scientist at heart and Zoe's stories went against all she understood of the world.

Seras frowned as she pondered on what she could do to put things right between mother and daughter. Both were her friends and she did not want to see them upset at each other this way.

_Maybe if Zora knew the truth, if I confirmed Zoe's story to her things would get better between them_, Seras thought. But how would Zora take finding out her friend actually was an undead monster? Hell, how would the entire base? _No way to know aside from telling her_, Seras decided.

"Zora, would you like to talk about it over a drink? I'll pay." Seras smiled. "Maybe it'll help."

"Yeah, I could do with someone to talk to right now." Zora agreed.

"Great!" Seras grinned enthusiastically. "Let's go."

Soon the two women were entering the cafeteria area of the base, which at this time of night was practically empty. A few night staff posted and a couple of night guards having their breakfast. The cafeteria and kitchens were located right next to the gardens to cut down on the distance to getting food. Nearly everything was made fresh, though the foods were nearly always some form of vegetable stews or fruits. Meat was few and far between and diary products practically nonexistent, you could not get milk from a zombie cow.

"Pick a table Zora, I'll get the drinks. What do you want?" Seras asked.

"Just water please." Zora replied before wandering off to one of the tables located out of the way, her feet clicked on the large white tiles.

Seras made her way over to what they called the bar, although they did not sell alcoholic drinks there. Too much chance of something bad happening if they allowed people to get drunk.

"Hi." Seras greeted the tired looking barkeeper. "Can I get a glass of water and…errm…a tomato juice?" Seras knew she had to keep appearances for now at least. She could handle that drink and as a bonus it was red, she could pretend.

Seras lifted her right arm and pulled her sleeve back enough to reveal the metal ring around her wrist. The barkeeper scanned it and the drinks were deducted from Seras' rations. Seras noticed the barkeeper's eyebrows rise at the amount left on the ring and she made a note to use some of it up before people began to get suspicious.

The ring was actually a type of PDA that doubled as a communicator and tracking device. Everyone in the Acropolis had one; it was a requirement as it also kept track of a person's vital signs and was an early warning in case someone suddenly dropped dead, for once you died the virus would seize control of the corpse.

Seras had had to have hers hacked by one of the engineers in the base to constantly read she was alive. Of course the guy did not even remember doing this, just one of the advantages of being capable of mesmerising creatures with lesser minds.

Seras thanked the barkeeper before wandering over to the plain stainless steel table that Zora had chosen to sit at. Like everything in the base it was military in style, function over comfort and utility over design. They did not have the resources to be picky over make or colour even.

"Here you go." Seras said while handing the tall glass of water to Zora who took it with a nod of thanks. Seras sat down opposite to Zora while the scientist took a few sips from her glass.

"So...Zoe tried it again." Seras spoke first, asking the question even though she knew the answer.

"Yes." Zora sighed. "I don't know what else to try. If she keeps this up Barrack'll have her thrown in lockdown again. You know what he's like when it comes to the protection of the Acropolis."

"Yeah," Seras stated leaning back on the bench she was sitting on. "Extremely dedicated. Just sometime a tad too zealous. Have you tried asking Zoe why she does it?"

"Because no one believes her story and thinks she's crazy." Zora replied putting the glass down and with a wave of her arms continued. "She compared our home with a prison where we're all just waiting for the inevitable."

_Apt observation_, Seras thought to herself. At least towards some of the older survivors, generally the ones who lived through the outbreak and saw countless numbers of relatives or friends die only to return as flesh eating monsters. Although the younger generation, the ones that grew up with the zombie threat constantly over their heads had a different attitude. They kept going; led by men like Soren Barrack they had made a haven of sorts against all odds and even thrived. They and Zoe were the reason Seras had not just left them. They showed the strength of will that it took to destroy monsters. No retreat. No surrender.

Seras picked up her drink and took a big gulp. The lifeless liquid did nothing for her except make her realise just how hungry she was right now. The craving had suddenly sprung up as she swallowed the juice drink and the sound of Zora's heartbeat came right into the foreground of her senses. At that moment in time the sound of blood rushing through arteries and veins was the entire focus of Seras' world and she found herself staring hungrily at Zora's neck.

"Seras?" Zora asked as her friend seemed to go into a weird trance. The way Seras was staring at her gave Zora a chill, it was almost like the look she had seen on a zombie's face more than once, a predator looking at its next meal. A thought that Seras might have just died flashed through Zora's head but was quickly dismissed as Nekrosis did not take hold so fast and her friend had always seemed so fit, pale but healthy.

"Seras!" Zora asked again this time more loudly. Seras blinked her eyes and shook her head before frowning and putting her drink down sharply.

"Are you okay?" Zora asked with concern while Seras leaned back and ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't know." Seras answered truthfully while struggling to regain her mental balance. What the hell was wrong with her suddenly? She had been well fed for awhile now, between the blood supplies the base stocked up on in case of transfusions and the healthiest citizens that would not miss the small amount she sometimes took. Why was she so hungry?

"Maybe you're coming down with that cold that's going around." Zora stated leaning over the table to place a hand against Seras' forehead. Seras pulled away in surprise from the sudden contact which brought another bout of cravings, this time she kept them under control.

"You're cold." Zora said concern etched on her face. "I think you should get a check-up."

Seras stared at her friend and wondered if this was the best time to drop the bombshell she had been planning to. Seras reached up with both hands and took Zora's into her own and pulled her back down into her seat.

"Have you ever thought," Seras said changing the subject and leaning in close to Zora. "What if Zoe is telling the truth?"

"What?" Zora blinked at the sudden question. "It's...it's not possible; every zombie we've dissected had the same damage to their brains."

"And me?" Seras probed. "What if I _am_ a blood drinking undead monster as she says?"

"That's totally stupid, vampires don't...can't exist." Zora replied and tried to pull her hand free but Seras' grip was too strong and Zora became increasingly aware of Seras' cold hands.

"Hypothetically," Seras continued her voice sounding hypnotic and Zora found herself unable to look away from Seras' blue eyes that suddenly had become the entire world. Those friendly blue orbs suddenly seemed like ice crystals that bore right through her. "If I were a vampire, would we still be friends? Would it prove that Zoe's story is true? Would it make things right between you two?"

"I..." Zora tried to speak but it was that exact moment a loud beep came from her wrist communicator shattering the illusion.

"Dr. Elgin, would you come to the council chamber." Came the familiar deep voice of Lieutenant Barrack distracting both Seras and Zora. Seras let go of Zora's hand and Zora leaned back blinking in confusion. She felt like Seras had been telling her something important but for the life of her, Zora could not recall the conversation.

"You should go." Seras told her with a large grin. "Or Barrack might have you thrown in lockdown too for being late."

"I'm sorry about this." Zora said while standing up.

"No problem, we can talk later." Seras waved as Zora rushed off.

Seras let out a faint growl at the timing that man had. _Couldn't he have waited a few minutes_? Seras thought and glanced at the two drinks barely touched. She stood up, glanced over at the two night guards just finishing their breakfasts.

"Hi, guys." Seras greeted as she walked over and put the drinks on the table. "I don't want these to go to waste. Want them?"

------------

Zora pushed the button opening the doors to the council chamber and stepped inside. The chamber itself was not that impressive, barely more than a darkened square room that sat a large round table in the middle of it. Around the table were eight high-backed chairs, at the moment four out of the eight were occupied. On the table top there was a holographic projector that just showed a green target when not in use.

"Sorry about being late." Zora apologised walking over to the first free chair next to Argento. "Zoe..."

"We know." Soren Barrack stated indicating Argento. Soren was a big man, African American, head shaven and a well trimmed beard. Like all the guards of the base Soren wore the black and grey armour but his shoulder pads had four gold markings on each, indicating his rank. Soren had fought in the war against the undead and hated them with a passion and as the highest ranked member still among the living the task of leading had fallen onto his broad shoulders. He could be a bit gruff sometimes but did care for the people he had to organise.

While Zora sat down she looked to see who else was here. Argento was to her right and to his was Professor Tallman, their resident zombie expert and she had taken the job of teaching the children of the base. She was a stunning red haired, green eyed beauty; she always seemed to wear a suit that accented her curves and even her thin rectangular glasses seemed chosen to accent that. She gave Zora a friendly smile.

To Professor Tallman's right was Soren and to his right was the last member, Camden Marrow the head of engineering. Camden was a thin geeky looking guy and unfortunately for him his baldness, with the few remaining stands of light brown hair combed over and large thick glasses helped reinforced this. He also was very nervous, often jumping at shadows, but he was the guy that kept the base's machines running smoothly. Through his efforts they had gotten the Blackhawk in working order and the magrail. Like Zora he was wearing a long grey overcoat.

"Ok then." Soren started. "Now that we're all here we'll begin. As you all know, Corporal Argento here will be leading Blue team out on a scavenger hunt shortly. You've all been asked to check if there's anything special you need looking for. We'll start with Dr. Elgin."

"Right then..." Zora mumbled glancing down the list Seras had wrote. "Looks like we need some more sterile blood packs, we seem to keep misplacing them."

"Misplacing?" Soren asked. "How do you misplace blood packs?"

"I honestly don't know." Zora replied still checking the list. "It's almost like someone's stealing them."

Soren began writing on his pad. If someone was stealing the blood packs for whatever god knows reason he was going to find them and string them up by their toenails.

"We need some more bandages, plaster strips, antiseptics, painkillers and sterilisers." Zora continued. "We've had a few outbreaks of flu-like colds recently, people complaining of being tired after waking up, neck pains and sometimes bad heads. We could probably do with something like those drinks for colds or vitamins." Zora flipped the page over the clipboard. "Moving onto the research equipment, we've pretty much got that all covered, although any more computers and MRI or CAT scanners would be nice."

"I'll see what we can find, but those are quite a size." Argento spoke while making notes.

"That's medical then." Soren stated. "Professor?"

"We just require some general stationary. Pens, pencils, pads etcetera for the school, the usual." Professor Tallman told them. "In terms of zombie research, as Dr. Elgin has already said we're pretty much covered."

"Right." Soren quickly finished his notes and turned to Camden. "What do we need for engineering Mr. Marrow?"

"Ahh...erm...let's see..." Camden stuttered checking his notes before launching into a list of serial numbers and parts. Soren felt his eyes glazing over as words with more syllables than necessary were spoken. He picked out the word nuclear at one point, fusion, ectoplasmic.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Soren interrupted and pointed at Camden. "Exactly what is ectowhatchamacallit? What are you building with all this?"

"Errr." Camden nervously wriggled his fingers as everyone was watching him curiously. "Well...you see, with the odd things going on down in engineering. Well me and the guys are building an ectoplasmic containment system."

"English please Camden." Soren sighed. At the blank looks all around Camden finally elaborated.

"Err...a ghost trap." Camden stated lamely.

Soren felt his eye begin to twitch in annoyance, he heard Zora cough to disguise a chuckle. It was well known around the Acropolis that Camden was convinced the base was haunted by a lady in red.

"I don't believe it." Soren groan rubbing his temples. "You're asking me to donate valuable time and men's lives to get bits to build a ghost trap?"

"Err...I suppose." Camden agreed quietly suddenly feeling extremely small. Soren had that effect on people sometimes.

"We're in the middle of a war against zombie hordes and you are worried about children's stories." Soren growled.

"If I may interrupt," Professor Tallman spoke up getting Soren's attention. "I've overheard some of the children in my class's talking about a woman in red who walks through walls. The description does seem to tie up with Mr. Marrow's stories."

Soren was about to dismiss that as kids stories when Argento also spoke.

"Weirdly enough, some of my team have reported a woman they don't recognise wandering the base sometimes. When they check there's nothing there and I've heard a few of the night guards say they hear whispering sometimes when no one is about."

Soren glanced at the faces around the table; you could see he was thinking things through before speaking. "How common is this?"

"As some on my team have reported this to me, I'm inclined to think it's not just idle chatter and people getting spooked. I was going to investigate for a bit before bringing it up." Argento told Soren. "Of course I believe there's a logical explanation for the occurrences."

"True." Professor Tallman said. "It's been proven that vibrations just out of normal human hearing range but able to be picked up subconsciously can cause uncomfortable feelings of being watched."

"So it could just be some of the machinery in the base vibrating." Soren stated relieved.

"Quite possible."

"But still, it would put my team at ease if we could fully check every possibility out." Camden stated.

Soren eyed him. W_hat you mean is it would put you at ease_, Soren thought but kept it to himself.

"Fine." Soren finally said. "Corporal, if you get the chance, check for the equipment Mr. Marrow wants. But the other stuff has priority and if it puts your men in danger forget it."

------------

"Hey Zoe." Seras' voice spoke as the vampire phased through the ceiling above Zoe's bed, her head exactly where Zoe was still glaring.

"Oh, it's you." Zoe stated in a bored tone as Seras lay against the ceiling looking down. The vampire was once again wearing her red version of the Hellsing uniform, complete with the almost illegally short skirt.

"That's not a very friendly greeting." Seras grinned and floated down to end up sitting on Zoe's bed, almost exactly where Zora had been earlier. "I guess you're upset at me."

"You think." Zoe deadpanned. The pair went into an uneasy silence for a while before Zoe spoke again. "Why did you tell them?"

"Because you're better off here." Seras replied looking up at the ceiling. "Safer."

"Bollocks." Zoe growled to which Seras chuckled.

"I can see I've rubbed off on you. You're using my swearwords."

"Why?" Zoe finally asked sitting up.

"Why what?"

"Why don't you tell them I'm not crazy? Why don't you do something about this crap I've had to put up with?" Zoe almost shouted.

"You know shouting at your room won't help your position any." Seras stated knowing of the camera. Of course the only one who could see her right now was Zoe.

"I thought you were my friend." Zoe finally stated quietly and Seras' face went serious.

"I am Zoe. I've decided to tell your mother the truth."

"Some friend...huh?" Zoe blinked as Seras' words finally registered. "You...have?"

"Yeah. I almost did earlier on but Barrack called her to a meeting." Seras told the young girl.

"Really! Finally!" Zoe cheered and began plotting all the times she would be able to say told you so to everyone of her doubters.

"Zoe." Seras gently grabbed the girl's shoulder to prevent her from bouncing up excitedly. "Listen. When I tell them, they might...scratch that they probably will try to either chase me away or dissect me. This may be the last chance we get to talk like this."

"Well I'll just go with you." Zoe stated grinning. "Then we can find Dirge too."

"Slow down squirt." Seras ruffled Zoe's hair. "I don't know what will happen yet. You never know they might think its great having an all powerful vampire weapon against zombies."

"Doubt it."

"So do I. But it's no good making plans when you don't know what will happen." Seras stated and stood up. Her clothing morphed back to the long grey overcoat before she continued speaking. "And worse is there are loads more of those things out there, which is exactly why you're safer here."

Zoe's expression told Seras everything she needed to know about what the girl thought of that.

"Well, I better get going." Seras grinned as she walked towards the wall. "See you later."

Seras walked up to the wall fully expecting to phase through it, instead she smashed headfirst into the completely solid wall and fell backwards onto the floor clutching her nose.

"Whad theck?" Seras groaned in pain and stared at the wall in stunned surprise.

"Seras...bwaaaahhahahaha!" Zoe stared before bursting out into laughter. Never had she seen Seras make such a fool of herself. Seras climbed to her feet and glanced at the wall before placing her hand against it. With a thought her hand passed through on the second attempt. This latest occurrence confused the vampire, could it be another affect of Nekrosis? Seras rolled her sleeve up and checked her arm for the telltale signs of blackened veins that indicated her body purging the virus. Nothing, plain ordinary if pale skin. This combined with the feeling tired and the recent bouts of hunger caused a frown to decorate Seras' face. Was there something wrong with her?

Seras pressed her arm through the wall and shook her head. Behind her Zoe was still giggling and Seras gave the girl a faint smile. She would not mention this to Zoe, no need for the girl to worry about anything else, especially a vampire's health.

"Well, bye this time. I'll catch you later." Seras said before stepping through the wall successfully.

------------

Soren finished taking the last notes he needed from the meeting and gathered the pages together in a neat pile in front of himself.

"Well, if no one has anything else to add..."

Soren's communicator suddenly beeped and he answered it. "Soren here. What's up?"

"We've got trouble at the gates." A male voice came through the communicator. Everyone in the room paused what they were doing at that.

"Zombies?" Soren asked.

"I wish. It's him." The voice replied.

"Him?" Soren paused with a deep frown on his face before it evaporated and was replaced with a look of annoyance, as realisation dawned on him he swore.

**Chapter 2**

Father Ammon leaned back in his chair and placed the worn book he was reading onto the stand beside him. His chair, unlike most in the Acropolis was quite elaborate; an old antique wooden chair that was carved with swirls and leaf patterns. It was well padded which helped someone of his advancing years.

The old man yawn and rubbed his tired sunken and yellowed eyes with gnarled fingers and glanced over at the clock on the big desk he had in one corner of his room. The large red numbers indicated it was almost midnight.

Like Soren Barrack, Father Ammon was a leader of the people in the Acropolis. If Soren was the leader of the guards and technology teams, Ammon was the spiritual leader of the survivors. His rousing sermons had managed to keep order and inspire people in the early days of the Acropolis and now they were quite the community. These were just troubled times before their god would embrace them; they just had to keep faith.

Father Ammon was about to drag himself to his feet and head to bed when a little jingle went off, indicating there was someone at the door. Ammon frowned, his thick grey eyebrows meeting as he wondered who was contacting him at this time of night and why they did not just use the communicators.

Reaching for his metal staff that stood by his chair, Father Ammon pulled himself to his feet, joints complaining after being sat still so long and steadied himself against his staff. The six foot stave was actually made up from bits of pipe screwed together with couplings and topped with a round symbol on the very end, which looked remarkably like the Mercedes car logo.

The spiritual leader, hunched over with age hobbled over to the door, his staff clicking against the floor with each step. His long tan coloured robed, complete with hood and grey scarf that hung over his shoulders trailed behind him on the floor. Reaching the door he pressed the button to open it.

The door slid open to reveal a base guard, not just any mind you. This was Timothy Henderson, a young man who was almost fanatically loyal to Father Ammon after he had taken Timothy under his wing after the boy had lost his parents. Timothy was a pretty average guy, nothing stood out too much about him, slightly messy blond hair and brown eyes. He was not the sharpest tool in the box but he was good at observing, which was why he was on the surveillance team.

"Father, I'm in need of guidance." Timothy spoke the passphrase that indicated he had something important to show Father Ammon in private.

"Come in, come in." Father Ammon told Timothy and turned to walk back into his room, Timothy followed him until the door slid shut. "Now them," Father Ammon stated turning serious and around to face the young guard. "What do you wish to show me?"

"You asked me to come straight to you if anything odd happened around the Elgin girl." Timothy stated while fishing out a holographic disk from his belt pouch and presenting the disc to Father Ammon. "You'll want to see this."

The old man's frown returned and he took the disc with his free hand, turned it over once as if he could see what was on it by looking at it. Taking another look towards Timothy, who waited impatiently for Father Ammon to view the disc before he hobbled over to his desk with Timothy hovering right behind him.

The old man placed the disc in the slot of the reader for his computer and pushed the disc until the mechanics inside the reader gripped it and drew it into itself smoothly. There was a faint whirling noise as the reader wound up to speed before the small projector in Father Ammon's desk sprung into life and presented a glowing green version of Zoe Elgin's room complete with miniature Zoe lying on her bed glaring at the ceiling.

"I've only saved the section you need to see." Timothy explained while Father Ammon watched the scene intently. The old man's eyes widened, but not in surprise as a miniature Seras wearing some sort of old style military uniform seemed to float through the roof. He watched the scene unfold intently as the pair talked while Seras floated down to the bed. So, Ammon realised the times they had seen the young girl talking to seemingly nothing in her room was not the product of her imagination. He felt his face twist into a grimace as Seras, this damned creature he had suspected for a while now stood up and her clothing changed into the normal ones he saw her walking insolently around the base in.

"I've seen enough for now." Father Ammon stated pressing the pause button. "Has anyone else seen this?"

"No sir, just me." Timothy replied.

"You've done extremely well to bring this to my attention Timothy. Our god had warned me of this creature and now I have the proof. Return to your station before you are missed and speak nothing of this. You will be rewarded when the time comes."

"Yes, Father." Timothy nodded and left the room once again leaving Father Ammon alone. The old man rubbed his chin in thought as he stared at the frozen scene before him. So the creature did exist, what had the Elgin child called it? Ah yes a vampire.

Father Ammon pulled the chair by his desk over and sat down, his tiredness forgotten as he downloaded the file to his personal computer and placed it with his other encrypted files. Then he blanked the disc removing all evidence before ejecting it.

Father Ammon paused a moment contemplating what to do. Somehow he needed to find this vampire's weakness's and either capture it or destroy it. It could possibly be something vastly useful or very dangerous. He had to plan this carefully if he was to succeed. Typing one word into his computer, vampire; the computer almost instantly had thousands of results come back and Father Ammon sighed. Now he had to find out what of the following information were fact and which were fantasy.

------------

Lieutenant Soren Barrack strode towards the Acropolis gates; his face would almost make zombies pause and wonder if it was a good idea to attack this guy. Soren was pissed, even his troops comprising of Corporal Argento and a few of his team and one guard Soren had grabbed as they passed, behind him were keeping a respectful distance. Behind the guards Zora, Professor Tallman and even Camden Marrow followed. This procession of higher-ups had caught the attention of a few survivors who followed them, keeping a respectful distance in case this turned out to be zombies.

"How dare he come back here?" Soren growled between his teeth as the large gates came closer. He clenched his fists and as they got into shouting distance he barked his orders. "Open the damned gates!"

With a groan of rarely used machinery the gates to the Acropolis slowly slid open, sliding apart to reveal the sight beyond. Just beyond the gates were a ragtag group of men and a few woman, some milling around and chatting amongst themselves and others staring across the bridge, obviously lookouts.

Soren paid almost no attention the large amount of weaponry the unwelcome visitors carried, nor did he pay any to the few carts and crates that had been brought across the narrow bridge. No his attention was on one man and one man only.

"Priest!" Soren growled approaching the leader of the group.

"Lieutenant, a pleasure to see you well." The man only known as Priest said his voice sounding gentle yet carried the short distance between them easily. Priest gave Soren a friendly smile and even had the audacity to wave which annoyed the lieutenant even further.

"I thought I had made it abundantly clear last time, you..._lot_...aren't welcome here anymore." Soren stated angrily as he closed the distance between them. Soren stopped a foot in front of Priest and glared him right in his shockingly blue eyes.

"It saddens me that you feel that way towards my flock and I." Priest replied with the same friendly smile never leaving his face, the one that drove Soren mad and held Soren's glare easily. Soren glanced down at Priest taking note that he seemed no different than the time since they had last spoken. Priest was as tall as Soren, but where Soren was broad and thick, Priest was boyish, wiry. He still looked barely past his teens, yet his hair which was combed into a perfectly neat side-parting was white as snow. Priest still wore the same short sleeved black suit and the collar that gave him his name. Around his right wrist was a polished dark wood beaded bracelet with a small wooden cross which hung from it and in his hand was the bible he always seemed to carry.

"After the stunt you pulled five years ago? You're lucky I've not had the guards shoot you on sight." Soren stated and pointed behind Priest. "What the hell is all this?"

"This?" Priest asked looking where Soren was pointing towards the various sized crates Priest's followers where sitting or leaning against. Turning back to Soren he continued to smile. "Payment."

"Payment?" Soren asked narrowing his eyes.

"And an apology for our last meeting." Priest grinned.

Soren almost reached to throttle the guy but managed to control himself. Barely.

"You sonofabitch." Soren growled out his fingers twitching. "You think offering this stuff to us will pay for the lives you've no doubt managed to lose in your crusade?"

"Nothing can pay for lives lost in this war." Priest stated sadly his smile fading to be replaced with a look of regret. "But you must understand Lieutenant; any who followed me chose to do so of their own freewill. I did not force any to join my mission from God."

"Oh really," Soren growled remembering Priest preaching to the younger members of the Acropolis years earlier, rousing them up with stories of fighting the undead menace and eventually leading some of them away. Soren examined Priest's followers carefully this time, he recognised a couple of former Acropolis members that left with Priest, but there were definitely more faces missing from the group than had left. Soren still remembered clearly the few families that had been left in tears as Priest convinced some to leave.

"Thanks for the offer but no thanks. Now pack up and leave before anything decides to chase you over here." Soren commanded.

"Do not concern yourself Lieutenant, my flock all wear the necessary precautions to prevent detection by the undead." Priest informed Soren that they had ionic scent cancelling vests. "We must remain undetected from our prey."

"And what about you? I don't see no vest." Soren stated poking Priest in the chest.

"Your concern for my wellbeing is touching but my faith in God protects and hides me from the undead." Priest laughed. "But please, before you turn us away have a look at what we bring. All we need is at most two days rest and the help of your engineers to perform maintenance on our caravan."

Soren looked out across the narrow bridge to see the caravan Priest was talking about. It was not actually a caravan, more like a bunch of trucks welded together forming a single massive armoured vehicle. Various weaponry could just be made out from this distance poking out from between slots cut into the armoured body. Of course it was far too large to fit across the bridge to the Acropolis.

"Please open the crates for the lieutenant." Priest called to his followers who began taking the lids off the crates. "Come look."

Soren, despite not wanting to ended up following Priest over to the crates.

"This one is full of clothing from babies to adults. Blankets and all kinds of fabrics we could find." Priest stated as Soren looked in. Everything was neatly packed to take the least room and despite himself Soren was impressed. "These next two are all kinds of hardware we've salvaged from various places. Computers, batteries, torches, drills etcetera."

Priest walked over to the last crate which was the largest. "And this one is full of as many tinned food products we could find that are still within date. Tinned fruit, vegetables and meats," Priest grinned and laughed. "Actual real meat that won't try to eat you first."

"Very amusing." Soren stated drolly picking out a tin. The label showed a nice background of a river with a large salmon jumping at you. The tin advertised more than ninety percent real salmon and Soren wonder absently what the remaining stuff was. He slowly placed the tin back and glanced at the still happily smiling Priest from the corner of his eye.

"Wait here." Soren told Priest and walked briskly back over to Argento and his guards and the others from the meeting. Soren made sure they were out of earshot.

"What do they want?" Zora asked, her face showing concern. She was imagining Zoe running away with the guy like people had done last time he had landed on a recruitment drive.

"A few days rest and the use of engineering to service their vehicle." Soren stated. "They've brought a boatload of clothing, various equipment and a ton of canned food stuffs as payment."

The group exchanged glances while Soren let that sink in.

"As much as I loathe the thought of letting them in, the food alone is almost worth it." Soren sighed. "Our gardens are stretched at the moment. Any thoughts?"

"If we keep them away from the populace so he can't pull the same trick twice." Argento said slowly. "We could assign a guard group to them at all times."

"Who?" Soren asked and pointed out. "Blue team is scheduled to leave soon. That leaves us stretched for standard protection of the base, some of us will need to pull double shifts already."

"We could always reschedule for in a few days, after they've left."

"That would be a bad idea." Professor Tallman stated drawing attention to herself. "We time the extrusions into the cold zones with the migratory patterns of the zombies. The satellite images show them moving in large circles around the city and in the next few days most will be further out. If we leave it any longer you run the chance of running into a lot more trouble than if you went as scheduled."

"So...if Blue team don't leave on time there's more chance of them running into zombies." Soren stated.

"Yes." Professor Tallman replied before launching into what her research had pieced together. "Most zombies seem to wander around seemingly aimlessly or at least at first. But they actually move around more like sharks until they catch the scent of prey then they move in for the kill. Using satellite images from the outbreak it actually looks like they are working together as one unit, one finds a living person and they all seem to gravitate toward them, like white blood cells attacking an invading virus."

Soren wondered if anyone else felt uncomfortable with the casual way Professor Tallman had compared them to a virus and zombies the cure.

"Can't we just let them use the yard and change the locks?" Zora asked.

"Mr. Marrow?" Soren prompted. "Can we lock them out of the buildings somehow but let them have access to engineering?"

"I...think so." Camden replied thinking about how to achieve it. "If we reconfigure the locks to require the presence of our communicators, I think we can keep them out."

"Good." Soren stated. "So, we're all in agreement?"

"Sir." Argento stated evenly.

"We could do with the food." Professor Tallman agreed.

Soren in an unusual display of empathy turned to Zora who looked worried. "They'll be here two days. We'll keep Zoe locked in her room for them. She won't even know about Priest let alone meet him."

"I...was I that obvious?" Zora asked quietly to which Soren actually gave her a faint smile.

"Ok people; get back to your tasks. I'll send a message around to anyone who needs to know after I lay down the rules to Priest. If he breaks them they'll be shipped out faster than a zombie smells brains."

Argento and his team saluted and then left with the others following. Soren turned around and walked back to the gates where Priest stood calmly with his happy smile still on his face. Soren wondered if the guy knew how annoying it was and if he did it on purpose.

"Did you come to an agreement?" Priest asked as Soren drew close.

"Yes we did." Soren stated and raised two fingers towards Priest. "You can stay the two days. Two days only. Stay away from the main buildings and if I even get a whiff of you preaching to people you're gone. Understood?"

"Of course. God will look kindly on your kindness." Priest nodded. "The engineering resources?"

"You can have the full usage of them for the two days, however if anything goes wrong in the base that gets priority."

"Fair enough."

"One final warning." Soren said his voice indicating this was non-negotiable. "If we spot zombies approaching because of you lot not having functioning ionic devices the gates close. If you're outside then you're on your own."

"Of course lieutenant, but you need not worry about us. We've destroyed more of the undead than you've had hot meals." Priest chuckled and to Soren it sounded completely hollow. "I'll have my people place the crates..."

"Over by the main building will do. I'll get some men to take them to where they're needed."

"Good. Good." Priest said that infuriating smile never leaving his face once. "May I enquire about something before you leave for the night?"

"What?" Soren grunted wondering what the guy would ask and also whether he would regret this decision.

"I sense...a restless presence in this place. I was certain I felt it the last time I was here too. Has anyone reported anything unusual to you? Like say, someone no one recognises or loss of blood? Mostly occurring at night?"

"You mean like in ghosts?" Soren asked gruffly and narrowed his eyes at Priest as he immediately thought of Camden's stories and Zora stating they had lost some blood packets. "People have enough to worry about with zombies than believing in ghost stories Priest."

"I suppose." Priest agreed and his smile vanished for once, his boyish face becoming hard. "But remember lieutenant, at one time zombies were considered ghost stories."

Soren found himself unable to hold Priest's gaze for once, those bright blue eyes had become something creepy all of a sudden and despite the difference in size between them, Soren felt intimidated.

------------

If Professor Tallman thought she had figured out zombie behaviour the sight currently occurring in the streets of Destiny City outside St. Fulci's Hospital would have baffled her completely. A rather large, heavily muscled zombie with blue tinged skin, wearing only a raggedy pair of trousers, a few bandages wrapped around his wrists, a large thick heavy chain looped over in a large x-shape across his barrel chest and a massive solid metal spiked collar around his neck was currently walking up and down the street banging on a metal bucket with a shovel.

"Here zombie, zombies. Come investigate the noise!" Dirge shouted out his skull-like face grinning as he continued banging the bucket and generally making as much noise as he could. Soon Dirge was rewarded with a few shambling corpses approaching curiously, drawn to the noise even if there was no smell of warm flesh. Dirge smirked as best as he could and dropped the bucket.

"Heh, looks like her royal pain in the buttness is in luck tonight. We've got one female zombie heading this way." Dirge stated spinning his shovel in a lazy circle and waited for the three zombies he had managed to attract wander closer. The three zombies bumped and stumbled slowly towards him and soon Dirge grew bored of waiting, it was like snail racing this.

"Awww screw it." Dirge stated and burst into a run towards his latest three victims. With a couple of swings of his shovel Dirge soon had the zombies incapacitated, making sure he did not damage them too much. Dirge paused to wipe his shovel which he had named Faust clean on one of the zombie's tattered clothing.

"Well let's see if we have any goodies tonight." Dirge grinned crouching down to examine the twitching corpses. One of the male ones was pretty far gone, little more than a skeleton and muscle and Dirge rolled it away, discarding it as useless. The second male one was a better catch; the guy had once been someone who had kept himself in shape.

"Cool." Dirge stated checking the state of the corpse's muscularation. It was in a useable state. Moving on to the female corpse Dirge was pleased that it too was in fairly good condition.

"Not bad for a nights work." Dirge stated grabbing the usable corpses by the ankles and proceeded to drag them towards the hospital doors. As Dirge walked up the steps attempting to whistle unsuccessfully with no lips, the corpses bumped up the steps with a wet sound. The large sentient zombie kicked open the doors to the hospital uncaringly and casually wandered inside.

Dirge walked through the waiting lounge where a few skeletons had been arranged in the chairs by himself when he had gotten bored as a joke.

"Still waiting to see a doctor guys?" Dirge greeted the bone arrangements with a chuckle as he headed towards the stairs. Dirge was soon heading down the stairs towards the morgue still dragging the headless corpses.

"Hey honey I'm home!" Dirge grinned as he entered the morgue and proceeded to drag the corpses over to the freezers.

"Very amusing." Nephthys' exotic Egyptian accented voice called back as she stood watching the myriad of monitors they had wired up in the morgue. She obviously was not amused as she slowly rotated her large scythe in her hand. Almost every screen showed a different angle of the Acropolis and a few showed the outside of the hospital.

"Guess what." Dirge continued, poking the female corpse in the stomach with a finger and listening to the squishy gurgling noise. "I got a nice juicy one here for you."

"Charming," Nephthys replied sarcastically while tapping a button to zoom in on the view of the Acropolis gates. "You bring me the nicest gifts."

With a rattle from the tray Dirge had laid the corpse on, he sent it into the freezer and closed the stainless steel door with a clunk.

"Which side of whose grave did you dig yourself out of tonight?" Dirge asked the beautiful Egyptian zombie while hefting the second corpse onto another tray and repeating the procedure.

"Come here." Nephthys asked ignoring Dirge's attempts at humour. "There's something going on at the Acropolis."

"Is it them?" Dirge asked stepping up behind Nephthys' black electrical tapped body. Them referred to the big ugly armoured creatures they had the displeasure of meeting six years earlier.

"Not likely," Nephthys stated pointing at the screen. "Unless they drive a jury-rigged metal monster truck."

"Sappers?" Dirge asked leaning over.

"Possibly no." Nephthys replied. "They seem to be chatting with someone from the Acropolis. Look, they're being let in."

"Interesting." Dirge stated rubbing his jaw in thought. "Keep an eye on em Queen Tut. Let me know if anything changes."

"And where will you be?" Nephthys asked glancing over at Dirge.

"I've got some welding to do in the garage, seeing as someone totalled our car."

------------

The being formally known as Xar Ggothua, once one of the three Hands of God, now just Ggothua crouched in the darkness that had been his prison for the last six years. Ggothua was painfully aware of the time spent in the darkness. But that was nothing to one such as him, he had lived in utter blackness long before the vampire had taken him into herself. No the darkness did not upset him, neither did the many weeping, screaming and whispering voices that often surrounded him.

It was the complete and utter knowledge that he was alone now. Severed from the hive, never to rise again, trapped forever in the body and mind of the vampire Seras Victoria.

Ggothua growled in the darkness his eight blue eyes blinking. Upon waking inside the vampire he found he was in the same condition as he had been minutes before his death, armour shattered from his head revealing his form. He still seemed to retain all his abilities which at least was somewhat comforting.

"Ready to talk yet?" a female voice that sent shivers down what could pass as his spine and a desire for revenge to flash through his mind. Ggothua spun roaring and lashed out with his tentacles he had formed only to hit nothing.

"When you going to just submit Mr. Ggothua?" Seras asked the large monster inside herself.

"Never." Ggothua replied in defiance only to find himself become tied up in the blackness that was Seras. Ggothua struggled uselessly before growing silent and still.

"All you have to do is submit to my will." Seras whispered in what might be his ear suggestively. "Do that and I promise I'd even let you out sometimes."

"I will never betray the hive!"

"Guess I have to hurt you again." Seras' voice stated second before Ggothua felt himself torn to pieces, then healed and repeated again and again. After what seemed like forever Seras must have grown bored and Ggothua found himself whole again.

"I'll be back later Mr. Ggothua." Seras stated and Ggothua was left alone once again. The former Xar growled in frustration at his situation and slammed a powerful armoured clawed hand into what classed as the floor here, although for all he knew it could be the ceiling as he had no way of knowing what was up or down.

Ggothua did not see the pair of red eyes behind him watching the scene of Seras torturing the monster quietly vanish into the blackness.

------------

Seras blinked her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. That Mr. Ggothua was one tough cookie to crack she would admit that, no other creature had resisted her will so long as he had. Not even other vampires she had defeated over the years had lasted as long.

Seras sat up and rolled her legs off the bed and sighed, another night and still no closer to finding out what Ggothua was and why it wanted Zoe dead. At first Seras had been led to believe the monsters wanted Dirge destroyed but they had not been after Dirge at all, he had just gotten in the way.

Seras stood up and walked towards the door. She paused a second before she tried phasing through it as the occurrence earlier in Zoe's room was fresh in her head. Seras pressed the button this time and walked out the door after it had opened. Something was wrong with her and it was messing her abilities up. It was slightly worrying to the vampire and she decided to take a walk around the base to clear her mind.

Seras wandered the almost empty corridors as most people were asleep at this time of the morning. Deciding to see if Camden was about Seras grinned evilly before heading towards engineering. She began plotting what trick she could play on the guy that she paid no attention to where she was going and for the second time that night she bumped into something. This time it was a flesh and blood something.

"Oh sorry!" Seras stated at the same time a male voice said the same thing. Seras quickly looked at the man she had ran into and paused in surprise. One she did not recognise the tall white haired boy? Two he was dressed like a vicar, complete with black and white collar.

Seras blinked.

Priest blinked.

The pair stared uncomfortably at each other for a second before Priest spoke first. "I'm really, really sorry Miss."

"Oh, no problem. I was in a world of my own." Seras chuckled, her mind raced to try and figure out who he was. Seras noticed instantly that the guy had really blue eyes, far bluer than even her own when she was not using her abilities.

"I must apologise for bumping into you like that, especially as I'm a guest." Priest stated reaching into the pocket on his shirt and pulled out a small silver cross and held it towards Seras' face. Seras blinked and almost flinched; the cross was pure silver and had almost touched her nose. That would have burnt. "Please, take this as an apology."

"Err...its lovely but there's no need." Seras stated trying to avoid touching the swinging silver cross. "No harm done."

Priest though had already taken Seras' hand and pulled it up to be just under the cross. Seras stared in surprise. Surely she should have been able to avoid the guy's grab.

"I insist." Priest stated dropping the cross into Seras' palm to which she immediately gripped it tightly. A flare of burning pain ripped through her hand as the silver made contact with it. Seras forced herself to ignore the burning and gripped the cross tighter; hoping the vicar dressed man would not notice the smell of singed flesh.

"Well goodbye and god bless." Priest smiled a friendly smile and walked off, leaving Seras clutching the burning cross. Seras' face twisted into an expression of pure rage and pain before she moved away as quickly as she dared without looking suspicious. She did not see Priest's face, nor the triumphant smirk that crossed it.

------------

Seras burst into the female toilets and tossed the burning cross away where it bounced off the far wall. She hissed in pain her eyes turning red in anger before rushing to turn on the cold water tap and pushed her hand under it. Her palm was burning.

_Damn that guy! And Damn all silver! _Seras growled internally as the burning finally began to recede, though the pain did not fade completely. Seras finally reached with her good hand and turned the tap off and withdrew her burnt hand to inspect the damage.

Her palm was blackened and burnt right to the bone almost, as she moved her fingers experimentally she could see the tendons moving exposed to air. With each flex more pain shot up her arm and she cursed all priests.

Shaking her head at the unbelievable bad luck she had been having tonight Seras concentrated on healing the damage. Nothing happened, her palm stayed as burnt as seconds ago. In fact she could not actually feel her body attempting to fix the damage.

"What is going on?" Seras pondered out loud. She had had silver burns before and they always healed as normal, why was this one not?

"It's like I'm getting weaker, but I've been well fed..." Seras stated and a look of sudden realisation crossed her face. The symptoms were similar to being starved of blood but as she had been feeding there was only one other explanation. She could not believe she had not realised sooner. She was in America, this was not the land of her birth and she had not slept in her coffin filled with the earth of England for years now.

She had two options now as far as she knew. The first was to absolutely gorge herself on blood of the living. It would probably take the entire population of the Acropolis to put her back in a healthy condition. Seras immediately crossed that option out, she may be a monster but she was not an evil monster. The second option was she had to return to her coffin and rest for a few days. Only problem with that, her coffin was still well hidden miles away.

Seras said the only thing she could in this situation.

"Bollocks!"

**Chapter 3**

Seras poked her head out of the female toilets and glanced up and down the corridor checking for anyone, especially young looking priests bearing damned silver crosses. The vampire was taking no chances; that had been far too much of a coincidence for her liking. Some priest appearing out of nowhere she did not recognise and giving her a silver cross, just what were the chances of that? No, far too suspicious.

The coast seemed clear and Seras stepped out, carefully keeping her damaged hand well hidden. The burns still stun and tingled. She would need to cover it up somehow and the best way Seras decided was to head to medical, use her position to get in and bandage it up. She could say she hurt it while doing the stock take or something if anybody did ask.

Setting off at a brisk pace she headed down the corridors towards medical, thankful that the only people she had to pass were the night guards posted just outside of the place. It was standard procedure to have guards near medical for if anyone were in serious danger of dying…well guards needed to be there for everyone's safety.

Seras greeted the guards with a polite nod as she passed them to enter medical, which one returned with a wave. Seras recognised him as Joseph Rodriguez, barely gone sixteen and already working under Soren's command. Seras had treated him for a broken arm last year when the boy had managed to climb the outer walls and fell. He was also her favourite type, blood type that was and had donated small amounts to the vampire unknowingly over the previous year. Seras did like him, he had a cheeky attitude and she wondered how often he pissed Soren off.

Once in medical, she wandered over to the keypad locked storeroom where most of the medical supplies were stored. Seras tapped in the pass code, seven, seven, three and lastly nine.

The door slid open and the computerised voice stated she had access. Seras stepped inside and proceeded to grab some loose bandages off a shelf near the door and began to wrap them expertly and tightly around her damaged hand. She tied the knot off over the back of her hand with her free hand and the use of her teeth.

Seras flexed her fingers experimentally and admired her handwork. The wound was covered well enough, it would hide the damage for now and she could still move her fingers easily even though it was sore to do so.

To make sure that her incursion into the storeroom would not look suspicious when someone checked the access logs, and they were bound to as usage of medical supplies was under strict supervision; Seras stepped over to the computer and typed a brief description of what she had taken and why. Once that was entered into the system she left the storeroom and shut and locked the door.

The vampire then wandered over to one of the four windows that looked out over the yard and sighed. She had really dropped the ball on this; she should have returned to her coffin ages ago or even better retrieved it and had it hidden somewhere in the base. How long since she had last slept in it? It must be nearly ten years, no wonder she was feeling so tired recently.

"I'm such an idiot sometimes." Seras stated to herself. "How can I expect to defeat powerful things like Mr. Ggothua and protect Zoe if I forget such important details? Even as powerful as Mast…Alucard is, he kept his coffin close by at all times."

Seras paused in her thoughts as she noticed the activity that was going on in the yard beyond. The main gates were open which in itself was highly unusual. The last time she had seen them open was when the humans had repaired the narrow bridge over the ravine. Taking a closer look she saw a group of people dressed like extras from a Mad Max film moving some large metal crates around under the supervision of the Acropolis guards.

"I wonder what's going on." Seras pondered while observing the activity. A moving patch of white caught her attention and Seras' eyes widen then narrowed to slits as she recognised that young looking priest walking across the yard and waving casually at the outsiders who all waved back. He stopped to talk with one group, from her position they looked like they were having a friendly conversation and all laughed at some joke before the priest moved on, walking towards the open gates.

"So…you're with those people eh." Seras stated. The moment Seras finished speaking the priest stopped, paused a moment before slowly turning around and looked straight at her. Seras blinked. No way had the guy looked right at her, not from that distance. A human would not be able to see anyone in the window without the aid of binoculars or other such devices, especially in the dark.

------------

Zoe Elgin was still covered in the muck from the vents as she hummed away to herself while scribbling on her pad that was supposed to be used for school work. Currently she was lying on her front, legs crossed and raised off the bed and sketching a scene of people running about with bats swooping down at them and a purple-haired girl laughing in the background.

Zoe grinned at her handiwork. This scene would be so cool if this happened when Seras revealed herself to base as she had said she would. Finally everyone would have to believe her story.

A beep from the door startled her and Zoe glanced up as the door slid open to reveal Seras. Zoe blinked at the sight; Seras only ever used the door if she was visiting Zoe during normal hours, babysitting for Zoe's mother or keeping appearances.

The young girl put her pencils down and sat up with a frown as she watched Seras glance back down the corridor before stepping into the room.

"Seras?" Zoe asked noticing the vampire looked uneasy, almost jumpy as the door shut behind her.

"Zoe," Seras began speaking while approaching the bed. "Something's come up and I have to leave for a while."

"Leave? Why?" Zoe asked and noticed Seras had her right hand bandaged up. That was odd as Seras always healed right up in seconds usually. "What happened to your hand?"

"I got a...bad burn." Seras stated raising her bandaged hand to look at her palm with a frown.

"Really." Zoe drawled as she stared at Seras, her face a picture of disbelief. The twelve year old stood up suddenly and grabbed Seras' hand which elicited a sharp hiss of pain from the vampire as she yanked the bandaged appendage from Zoe's grasp.

"Ohmygawd, you really are hurt." Zoe blinked in surprise and leaned closer to Seras who was holding her hand delicately. "Since when do you get hurt?"

"Yes I'm bloody well hurt!" Seras growled. "Next time you hurt yourself I'm gonna grab it too, just to make sure."

"Sorry." Zoe mumbled looking sheepish. After a short pause Zoe spoke again. "So...what happened?"

"Nothing really." Seras said with a dismissive wave. "I picked something up I shouldn't have."

"Seras Victoria, pull the other one." Zoe stated hands on hips, mimicking the exact posture and way Seras talked when she did not believe something Zoe had said.

"You know, that's both annoying and creepy at the same time." Seras stated while sending a glare towards the purple-haired girl.

"So spill it." Zoe commanded.

Seras' glare slowly transformed into a smirk while she appraised the young girl before her. To think Zoe Elgin, not even into her teens would have the guts to command an answer out of a vampire and it was not through ignorance. Zoe had seen how powerful Seras was on that bridge six years ago when she had stood up to and destroyed a monster far larger than the vampire. Seras wondered if this was how Alucard felt when Sir Integra Hellsing commanded him, bemused and intrigued by how fearless they were.

"Well?" Zoe asked crossing her arms in annoyance at Seras' lack of answers.

"Zoe Elgin..." Seras' grin revealed her fangs as she spoke slowly. "You are an amazing creature."

"Huh?" Zoe blinked her surprise and allowed her arms to fall to her sides.

"You, a little girl barely a teen _dare_ command an answer out of a vampire." Seras leaned in close to Zoe her eyes turning red. "You do know I could kill you in an instant, drain you of all blood and make you my slave for eternity."

"Feh, at least I'd be outta this place." Zoe stated turning her back to Seras and re-crossing her arms. "And you still haven't explained anything."

Seras' grin widened into a real smile and she shook her head in amazement before reaching her arms around Zoe and hugging the girl catching Zoe completely by surprise.

"People like you Zoe are why humans will survive even this plague." Seras said happily. "And I'll be damned, which I am if I'll let more of you die than necessary."

"You're only worried about running out of blood." Zoe stated semiseriously.

"Well...there is that." Seras said looking thoughtful, tapping a finger against her chin while Zoe turned to face the vampire once again. "Zoe Elgin, I've made a decision."

"What kinda decision?" Zoe asked suspiciously as Seras kneeled before her.

"I've decided to choose you as my newest master. I'm yours to command." Seras stated. "I don't know how to seal myself to you or anything...my word is the best I can offer."

"Errr...what?" Zoe did not know what to make of Seras' words.

"From now on, I'm your servant." Seras kept her head down as she spoke. "Command me Master."

"Command you..."

"Whatever you wish, will be done." Seras spoke clearly and smoothly. "You can command me to destroy your enemies or all your disbelievers. Anything."

"Are...you...serious?" Zoe finally asked slowly trying to figure out if Seras was playing a practical joke on her. Zoe knew Seras had a thing for pulling pranks around the base now and again. She was the cause of all the ghostly happenings that sometimes occurred around the Acropolis.

"Deadly." Seras stated raising her head to look Zoe in the eyes. "If you want them dead...I'm the gun. _You_ just have to point it and pull the trigger."

"No!" Zoe waved her hands frantically. "Don't kill anyone! I just want them to believe me."

"And they will." Seras grinned. "If you command me to reveal myself to them, Master."

Seras watched Zoe intently; you could almost see the cogs turning in the girl's head as she began to figure out just what Seras was saying.

"So...if I want something done, you'll do it?" Zoe asked. "No matter what?"

"If it's within my power, Master."

"Show me your hand." Zoe asked.

"Yes Master." Seras stated while beginning to unwrap the bandage. Once the bandage was removed the vampire presented the damage to Zoe. Zoe took Seras' larger hand into her own, holding the appendage carefully with both hands.

"What...did this?" Zoe asked in shock at the sight of the damaged done to Seras' hand. The flesh was blackened and blistered near the edges of the wound and Zoe could easily make out tendons and bone. To Zoe it looked like something you would expect to see on a zombie, definitely not Seras.

"A silver cross." Seras spoke making Zoe look away from the wound and Seras continued guessing Zoe's next question. "Some priest I didn't recognise just happened to bump into me in the corridors around engineering. He offered it as an apology. I couldn't just throw it away without looking really suspicious."

"A priest?" Zoe pondered thinking of the creepy old guy. "Like Father Ammon?"

"Yeah."

"So...why's it not healing? Does silver really hurt you that much?"

"Silver causes my flesh to burn if it comes into contact with it." Seras stated pulling her hand free to begin re-bandaging it. "Some say it's because Judas was paid in silver. Others because silver is a pure metal. It doesn't matter to me, all I know is it hurts. Normally the wound would heal like any other...but because I've done something pretty dumb..."

"Gee since when." Zoe grinned.

"...that is forgetting to return to and sleep in my coffin." Seras continued ignoring Zoe's statement.

"Waitaminute!" Zoe spouted. "Coffin? You have a coffin?"

"Yep!" Seras grinned cutely. "A lovely dark wood one with a nice purple velvet interior."

"You sleep in a coffin? Fureal?"

"When I remember to return to it." Seras grumbled annoyed at herself for forgetting something as important as this. At Zoe's look of disbelief Seras continued. "Of course I sleep in a coffin...I am dead remember."

"But...why does that make your hand not heal?"

"Good question." Seras grinned. "As it was explained to me by my sire, a vampire is connected to the earth of their homeland and that is the reason they normally only stay in one place. If a vampire leaves contact with their land of birth they gradually weaken. This can be staved off by feeding constantly on the living. The longer away the more blood is needed to keep at the same level of strength."

"So you need to go back to England?"

"Not quite." Seras stated. "There's a massive ocean between me and home and no way of crossing it. Crossing large bodies of water is not very comfortable for me. My sire was powerful enough to just find it annoying, but I had to be in my coffin just to be moved here...and even that was not pleasant."

"Where is it?" Zoe asked.

"Around a week's constant travelling at night up north." Seras said with a shake of her blond head.

"So..." Zoe stated with a frown as she tried to figure something out. "How does sleeping in your coffin fix everything if you need to return home?"

"Simple, it's because my coffin has a fake bottom that is filled with the earth of England." Seras grinned. "My sire was pretty clear he was the first to figure out he could actually travel to other lands with this method."

------------

The man only known as Priest nodded politely to the guards watching him as he exited the engineering section. He paused to take a deep breath and calmly took in the activity before him. His loyal followers were moving the crates to where the Acropolis guards wanted them.

He grinned a triumphant grin. How lucky could he have been? Running into the creature he had suspected hid among the humans of this base like a wolf in sheep's clothing. He had sensed its presence clearly in engineering where he had been just returning from; curiously it had not even tried hiding its presence from him.

Priest shook his head in amusement. Of course it would not hide itself from him. This was one of the two most powerful abominations he had been hunting for over four decades now. It was taunting him with its power, even capable of holding onto a pure silver cross with no outward sign of pain. He had heard of this pair's strength from the few survivors who had returned from London so long ago. Two vampires and their human master stood against an entire squadron of elite manmade freak vampires armed to the teeth, the squadron that had practically slaughtered all of London in one night of blood.

The one he truly wanted, the one he had to destroy had no trail to follow, nothing in any of the records he had managed to get hold of indicated the fate of the one known as Alucard. Priest had given up chasing that one directly and chosen instead to try and track down the second of Hellsing's tamed monsters, Seras Victoria.

Unlike the monster Alucard, Seras' last known position was in the records. Loaded onto a cargo ship in a sealed crate on its way to America. Priest had finally gotten permission from his superiors to be allowed to track the monster down and capture it. But fate had intervened, barely a couple of days after entering America the plague broke out reanimating the dead into flesh eating zombies.

Priest had long lost contact with his superiors and as all travel between continents was cut off he had been stuck. He protected as many people as he could, using all his combat training. It was unfortunate that these undead monsters did not seem affected by any of the usual methods of disposing the undead. Soon he had people looking towards him like some kind of saviour and he guessed that God had wanted him here for this very reason.

Priest smiled pleasantly as he approach his followers, many paused as he wandered over to them.

"People, I've got us some good news." Priest stated to which a few glances were exchanged. "I've confirmed the identity of the undead monster that hides in this place."

"Do we move now?" one of the youngest of his flock asked eagerly. Alistair, barely fifteen when he had met Priest during his first visit to the Acropolis, and what he lacked in ability he made up for in luck. Priest had never met someone as lucky as Alistair. He was a tall guy, standing over six feet a decent build and blue hair, which Priest had never been keen on as it was through some kind of genetic modification not approved by God. He of course did not blame Alistair as it was one of his foolish parents who had that done to themselves. Like most of the flock he wore a mishmashed set of clothing rescued from various places.

"Not yet my son." Priest told him. "This creature is very different from any undead you've faced before. It is neither slow, nor dumb. In fact it is the complete opposite of the rotten corpses brought back to a twisted version of life by a virus. It is cunning, it is fast and it is _incredibly_ strong; capable of tearing a man in two like tissue paper. This is a truly dangerous monster I've been hunting for years. But like everything it has weaknesses, to succeed we need to plan carefully."

"So we have to set a trap?"

"Yes. We need to prepare seals to prevent its escape and I must bless our weapons if we are to even have a hope of hurting it. We are not as prepared to face it as I hoped but we won't get another chance to destroy it while the people here remain oblivious to its unholy presence."

"Do we know what it looks like?" Alistair asked curious at what such a monster would look like and how it could hide among the people in the place he once called home.

"I've had its picture for a long time." Priest said reaching into his pockets and pulled out a wallet. Priest flicked the wallet open and removed a carefully folded and yellowed with age set of photographs. He put the wallet back into his pocket before carefully unfolding the picture and a second piece of paper before passing them to Alistair.

"Please do not be tricked by its appearance, it is a monster." Priest stated as Alistair's eyebrows threatened to launch themselves into space. "The piece of paper is the vampire's death certificate."

"Its...it's not that..." Alistair stuttered as he continued staring at the innocently smiling face on the picture. "That's Seras..."

"So you met it previously." Priest stated rubbing his chin. "That may be useful."

Alistair passed the first picture on. If the first picture showed a seemingly innocent girl the second shattered that. Like the first it was of Seras but this one had her dressed in an old style military uniform fighting something that Alistair could only describe as a thorn bush. She was seemingly holding back an arm of thorns with one hand that was slicing something obscured by her in half. Her face twisted in anger, eye's blazing a bood-red and fangs clearly visible, seemingly impossibly large for her mouth. Her other arm was missing and instead of it there was a black mass of...something.

Priest continued smiling as he was finally another step closer to his goal, avenging the death of the man who had raised him and finishing his work.

------------

The rhythmic tapping of Father Ammon's staff echoed along the empty corridors as he made his way towards observations. He had received word from Timothy that that fake priest had returned and was at the gates speaking with Soren.

"God damn that young fool." Father Ammon growled out. How Priest and his followers had survived five years out in the cold zones was a mystery to him, and now he was back once again. Ammon remembered clearly the last time they had met, the way he had openly mocked him and that damned smile! As if he knew God better than Ammon did...

Father Ammon halted as he realised he had walked past the door to observations. Obviously finding out the vampire was real and now Priest turning back up on their doorstep had unsettled him enough to cause this, either that or he was up far too late. Father Ammon grumbled in annoyance and retraced a couple of steps to press the button that opened the door.

"...and I want his movements monitored twenty-four seven." Father Ammon heard Soren's voice as he entered the room and sure enough the Lieutenant was there making his orders clear. Soren had paid no attention to the door opening but the tap tap of a metal staff caught his attention.

"Father Ammon?" Soren blinked standing to face the old man.

"I see you still think you should not have to consult with me over things like this." Father Ammon stated his voice like ice.

"I didn't think you would still be awake Father." Soren apologised as Father Ammon wandered over to look at the monitors.

"_You let him in?_" Ammon hissed in anger turning back to Soren. "After last time you let him back in?"

"He brought food and other supplies." Soren stated. "I like it about as much as you do but he'll only be here two days to repair their vehicles. We've blocked them from entering anywhere but engineering."

"That is two days too long." Father Ammon muttered. "He riles people up and leads them on a useless crusade that just speeds them towards death. I hope you're prepared to face the consequences if he repeats his previous performance Lieutenant."

"He won't." Soren growled. "We're watching him this time and he knows it."

Father Ammon looked at Soren sideways. "The fact he returns after five years outside is testament to his skill. It's too late to change what you've done Lieutenant, let's hope it is not all our downfall."

"Don't worry. I'm not letting him get away with anything." Soren promised. "I need to sort some more guards, especially ones that won't be taken in by him and Blue team leaves in less than an hour. So if you'll excuse me..."

"Yes Lieutenant you may leave." Father Ammon stated turning back to the monitors and frowning. Soren took that as, as good as he could hope for. He knew Father Ammon detested Priest and Soren could not blame the old man for being angry. Soren had been expecting a worse tongue lashing, Father Ammon must be tired and he decided to let it be and quickly left.

"The fool." Father Ammon hissed once Soren was gone and turned to Timothy. "Do you have audio of what they've talked about?"

"Yes Father." Timothy said and with a few keystrokes one of the monitors began playing back the meeting between Soren and Priest at the gate. Father Ammon's frown deepened if possible at hearing Priest mention odd occurrences at the end of the conversation. The way he had asked the questions seemed more like he was trying to confirm something, than asking a question.

"He's after something." Father Ammon stated slowly. "But what?"

"I watched his movements through engineering and, well he bumped into our uninvited guest. I don't think she liked him." Timothy told Father Ammon.

"Show me." Father Ammon commanded his interest piqued.

Again Timothy quickly typed and the scene changed to one of the corridors in engineering. Seras was wandering along it paying no attention where she was going until she literally walked into Priest. The pair exchanged words.

"Sorry, there's no sound. Engineering only has video feeds." Timothy apologised for the lack of sound.

Father Ammon ignored Timothy as the images showed Priest giving something to Seras and walking off. Father Ammon pressed the pause button as quickly as he could when Seras' face twisted into a look of fury. Father Ammon felt a shiver pass through him at the vampire's expression and spoke his thoughts out loud.

"What the hell did he say to her to get such a response?"

"I don't think it was what he said." Timothy stated and Father Ammon glanced over waiting for him to explain. "I think it was the cross he gave her."

"How so?"

"She runs straight to the toilets. A few minutes later she comes out and heads to medical, takes some bandages and entered that she had burnt her hand in the logs. Her hand is bandaged up, the one she held the cross he gave her." As Timothy spoke he brought up a series of pictures each showing a close up of Seras' hand, before and after.

Father Ammon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It would appear the vampire had been hurt; this may give him insight into its weaknesses.

"We must find that cross if she has not disposed of it somehow." Father Ammon stated. "What is she and Priest up to right now?"

"Priest is in the yard." Timothy stated bringing up the live feeds and switching on audio. "I'll try and track her down now."

Father Ammon listened intently as Priest began talking with his followers. The old man almost dropped his staff when Priest confirmed Seras was a vampire.

"I...he knows?" Father Ammon gasped. He leaned closer to the monitor, eyes wide as Priest began plotting how they would catch the vampire. Blessed weapons and seals? It became increasingly obvious to Father Ammon that Priest knew or thought he knew how to fight a vampire.

_I could just let him take care of our infection...but then...we would have no chance of learning the vampire's source of power or harnessing it_, Father Ammon thought.

"Father, I've found her." Timothy said interrupting the old man's thoughts. "She's with the Elgin girl again."

Father Ammon tightened his grip on his staff at the mention of Zoe even as Timothy switched the video and audio to Zoe's room. As the scene played out Father Ammon found himself nodding as the vampire confirmed their suspicions that it had been hurt. Then the conversation went strange, the vampire started to threaten to kill the girl.

"What?" Father Ammon stated dumbstruck. The monster had always seemed fascinated with the Elgin child why would it now threaten to kill her? Then it got stranger. The vampire kneeled before Zoe and spoke.

"_From now on, I'm your servant. Command me Master."_

Zoe's voice came through the speaker. "_Command you..."_

"_Whatever you wish, will be done. You can command me to destroy your enemies or all your disbelievers. Anything."_

Father Ammon's eyes widened in fear at hearing the vampire's words. What was this? As Father Ammon listened in to the conversation he felt lightheaded, the vampire was offering the girl itself as a servant that would do anything for her...even kill. Offering the power of death to a child, Father Ammon suddenly had the chilling thought of anyone who had wronged the girl at one time or another killed by this monster.

"By god..."

Thankfully it seemed the Elgin child was as surprised as he was and dismissed the idea of killing people. _At least for now_, Father Ammon thought with fear as he knew children often chopped and changed their minds. This was seriously a powder keg waiting to explode. He had to do something quickly, but what?

"_A silver cross."_ Seras' voice spoke catching Father Ammon's attention and he listened in closely as the vampire continued to explain some very interesting facts. Including that it was weakening rapidly and had to travel north to collect its coffin.

Father Ammon felt his face twist into a smirk. So the vampire was not invincible and returned to listening in. The pair then began talking about leaving the base and how they would get out unnoticed.

Father Ammon's face finally split into a grin and he spoke. "I think I know how to capture the vampire and annoy Priest at the same time."

------------

"Can we just sneak into the train with Blue team? You can turn invisible and hide me too." Zoe asked.

"Yeah, no problem if I'd been sleeping in my coffin." Seras grinned back. The pair were currently sat on Zoe's bed plotting how to escape unnoticed.

"Oh yeah, powers. So, we can't go that way. We can't go out the front because of that priest being there under guard." Zoe sighed placing her chin in her hands.

"Another problem is we can only move at night. Which gives us maybe four hours of darkness at most left till dawn." Seras stated. "The way I'm at the moment sunlight'll probably kill me."

"Could we...I dunno walk along the mag-rail line?"

"Probably." Seras stated. "If it's not turned on."

"Bollocks." Zoe muttered in frustration.

"Hey don't worry, Master." Seras grinned patting Zoe's shoulder. "We've got time to figure a way out."

The door suddenly beeped and opened spilling the light from the corridor inside and casting a long shadow into the room. Both Seras and Zoe jumped in shock at this as the familiar tap tap of Father Ammon's staff echoed into the room.

"I'm afraid time is against you." Father Ammon stated allowing the door to shut behind him.

"Father Ammon." Seras stated smoothly standing up. "It's a surprise to see you up this...errr...early."

"Dispense with your act. I know all about you vampire."

"What?" Zoe sprang off the bed. "You knew?"

"Yes. You cannot hide anything from god." Father Ammon stated turning to glare at the girl.

"So you know." Seras stated darkly. "And yet you come here alone..."

"Don't bother with your threats monster." Father Ammon turned and pointed his staff at Seras' nose. "I'm not here to fight as we both know how that would end…just a warning and maybe offer assistance."

"Go on." Seras spoke slowly after Zoe and she exchanged a puzzled glance.

"That man...Priest knows all about you. I've overheard him talking about trapping you tomorrow around noon. He claims his blessed weapons and seals will hold you." Father Ammon told them calmly.

"Blessed weapons? Neat. I didn't think anyone could make them still." Seras grinned.

"What are they?" Zoe asked.

"Weapons that can actually hurt one such as me." Seras told the girl. "Usually a blade," Seras rubbed her throat as she said that remembering a certain throat wound. "Although bullets can also be blessed. I used to use that type of bullet myself against freaks."

Father Ammon filed that information away for later before continuing. "I suggest you escape quickly if you do not want Priest to succeed."

"That is proving quite hard you know." Seras stated. "Seeing as I can't just walk out the front door."

"Then you use the back door." Father Ammon smirked.

**Chapter 4**

It was approaching two o'clock in the morning as three figures made their way through the winding corridors of the Acropolis, heading towards one of the off-limits areas. The only sound made by any of them was the constant tap tap of Father Ammon's staff as he walked. Following silently behind the hunched spiritual leader was Seras, her presence and lack of noise decidedly disturbing to the old man. Beside the vampire walked Zoe who moved almost as quietly as Seras herself and it was only Zoe's heavy grey boots squeaking now and again as they rubbed against the floor that gave her presence away.

Seras was once again dressed in her red version of the uniform she had worn while she had been part of Hellsing, having managed to change her clothes as that neck on the lab coats was damned annoying at times. Zoe had once again donned her ionic scent cancelling vest and her backpack. The young girl was grinning cheerily as if she was off on a holiday and not an excursion deep into zombie infested territory.

"This way, quickly." Father Ammon ordered glancing over his shoulder to make sure they had not wandered off. Now he knew what Seras was he could spot the telltale signs, there was no rise or fall of her chest, her silent and predatory gait, her paleness and the odd way her canines often showed. When he glanced behind she smirked evilly allowing her fangs to show and Father Ammon grimaced. _Damn her, she's enjoying trying to rattle me_, Father Ammon internally grumbled. _But the last laugh is on her, god will destroy her kind in the end_.

"Where exactly is this backdoor?" Seras suddenly spoke as she read an old sign from the Acropolis's previous days. Genetic Research Labs, all employees of Blackspire must wear suitable clothing and have clearance to proceed beyond this point.

"Further this way." Father Ammon said as he passed an opened former security door. "These rooms were the research laboratories that the public were allowed to know about before the outbreak. They've since been stripped of all useful equipment and relocated, however this area is still mostly off-limits...there could be anything in them."

"Dangerous?" Seras asked glancing into a darkened room carefully.

"A possibility." Father Ammon stated. "But the truly dangerous stuff was kept deep underground."

"You seem to know a lot about this, did you work here before?" Seras asked curiously.

"Once upon a time." The old man said pausing at a junction. Turning to the right he set off once more. "This way."

"It's dark here." Zoe pointed out. Unlike most of the corridors of the Acropolis this one was in disrepair, lucky if one in every four lights still worked. There were a few dark patches of some sustenance long since dried splashed against the walls, right near bullet holes.

Seras grabbed Zoe's hand before she could reach out and touch one such patch they were passing. "Don't touch stuff you don't know what it is. Master."

"But it's dry?"

"Maybe." Seras stated. "But that is not blood and it smells strange..."

"Did you not want to be out of here before dawn?" Father Ammon asked sarcastically stopping and turning back to face the two females examining the wall.

"He's right Master. We need to get moving." Seras stated and the pair quickly caught up with Father Ammon. The old man shook his head in annoyance and set off again, behind him Zoe started pulling faces. Seras just grinned.

They continued on in silence until the corridor suddenly widened out into a large room. At the far end was a set of large steel doors. The doors had warnings to stand back when in use written on them in big red letters and they were sealed. Black and yellow stripes ran up the edges of both the doors and to either side was a large orange light.

"Wow." Seras whistled as she wandered over towards the door. They towered a good five feet above her own head. "Is this the backdoor?"

"Yes." Father Ammon confirmed walking over to the control panel that rose from the floor and was placed to the right of the door. He tapped a series of buttons and there was a buzz.

"All access to lower levels suspended." The computerised voice indicated.

"I suspected as much. The lift has been sealed since the creation of the ravine." Father Ammon mumbled. Turning to Seras he spoke again. "It may take me a few minutes to reconfigure access."

"No need." Seras stated walking over to the door and cracking her knuckles. "I'll get them open."

"How?" Zoe asked the vampire who grinned back at her.

"My abilities may be unreliable but I'm as strong as ever." Seras stated feeling the slight gap between the doors with her finger tips until she got a purchase on them.

"You can't be serious..." Father Ammon gapped and clutched his staff tighter as Seras grunted. At first nothing happened and then slowly with a groan and dust shaking loose the doors began to part. Zoe's mouth hung open as she watched Seras slowly force the doors apart. She knew Seras was strong but to see the slim woman opening doors made of solid steel twice her height was amazing.

"Open Sesame!" Seras growled and with a final push and a roar slammed the doors as far open as she could.

"Cooooool." Zoe breathed.

Father Ammon could only stare as the lift doors, ones that took powerful hydraulic motors to move and were thick enough to be classed as blast doors were pushed opened by the vampire. Pushed! _God just how strong is this monster?_ The old man thought.

"Wow! Seras!" Zoe cheered rushing over to stare into the lift shaft. The girl leaned over the edge slightly and stared down in the total blackness below them. Zoe then glanced up at Seras questionably, who looked thoughtful as she too examined the shaft. The lift shaft was a plain square concrete shaft with reinforcing all the way up and down with girders and at set distances apart four of them would form a slight ledge. Right at the back of the shaft was what appeared to be an access ladder running all the way down.

"It's a long way down." Seras said and glanced behind her at Father Ammon. "Where exactly does this come out?"

"Out? Oh...yes." Father Ammon shook himself to regain his wits after witnessing that feat. He made sure he kept the control pedestal between him and the vampire, for all the good it would do him if she attacked. "Blackspire used to be far larger than what is now the Acropolis. Most of the research labs were deep under the ground with this lift as one way down. When this place was chosen as our home, to make our position more defensible Professor Tallman came up with the idea of blowing the lower labs up, collapsing most of the land in front of us to create the ravine named after her. If you can make it down alive...then you'll come out in the bottom of the ravine...unless it is completely blocked with rubble."

"So, there's a chance this way is a dead end?" Seras asked with a frown.

"Quite possible," The old man confirmed. "But what other choice have you?"

"Not many in my current state." Seras agreed before picking up Zoe.

"What are you doing?" Zoe asked as Seras positioned her so Zoe could hang onto her back.

"Hold on to me." Seras told Zoe. "The cables are still hanging but we need to jump to reach them."

"Oh." Zoe grinned clutching tightly to the vampire. "This'll be fun!"

"Yes Master." Seras agreed and judged the distance. She turned once more to face Father Ammon.

"Answer me one thing before I go old man." Seras said darkly. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because I don't want your _abominable_ presence in our sanctuary any longer and I know we don't have the power to force you out." Father Ammon growled.

"Well, at least you're truthful." Seras flashed a fanged grinned before leaping. The vampire caught the cable with her left hand and held on tightly where she and Zoe then swung back and forth slowly. Seras was glad the cable had not just been hanging loosely, now that would have been problematic.

"Please stand back. The lift doors are closing." The computerised voice stated as the lift room was suddenly lit up with two spinning orange lights; it looked like the old man had the controls figured out.

"Don't slip." Seras told Zoe when she flinched at the sudden noise.

There was a deep hum and a groan of long unused machinery powering up. Between the gap that Seras had opened Father Ammon hobbled over and looked in to watch the pair as the doors began closing slowly. The light inside the lift shaft began growing thinner as the doors inched closed.

Zoe waved at the old man. She decided he was alright now even if he normally gave her the creeps.

"I know you probably hate me for what I am but thanks anyway." Seras shouted over the noise of the moving doors.

"Don't thank me monster." Father Ammon sneered just before the doors shut completely plunging the shaft into utter darkness. "Your fates are now in the hands of god!"

Zoe did not hear over the noise but Seras did, clearly. With a deep clunk the doors sealed shut leaving them hanging in the blackness, well Seras could see fine but Zoe was completely blind in there.

A feeling Seras had not felt for a long time passed through her, a chill. She frowned in the darkness, the way the old man had spoken those last words sounded suspiciously as if they had a hidden meaning.

_Hands of god?_ Seras thought turning those words over in her head. _He couldn't...naaah it's just a coincidence._

"Do we climb down now Seras?" Zoe asked hanging onto the vampire and bringing Seras' thoughts back to their current situation.

"Yeah, hold on Master we're going down." Seras informed Zoe before gripping the thick metal cable with both hands. Her damaged hand stung but nothing too painful, she could ignore that easily enough and Seras began the long climb down.

"This is great!" Zoe sudden spoke up after a minute of climbing. "Once we get out we'll go find Dirge right?"

"If that is your command Master, but I really need to get to my coffin." Seras replied pausing and looking further down the shaft. "We don't actually know if he's still ali...errr about."

"He has to be." Zoe said strongly as Seras resumed the decent.

"I hope he is." Seras said and meant it, the zombie had been gruff but he had helped them. "I really need to get my coffin first, after that I'll be fine to protect you better."

"Can't you protect me fine the way you are?" Zoe asked. "I mean you opened those doors."

"Against zombies or humans, sure." Seras replied. "But against people who know my weaknesses...at the moment they'll destroy me. And don't forget...those things are still out there."

Seras felt Zoe unconsciously grip her neck tighter and felt the girl's heartbeat increase slightly. The vampire internally groaned as she forced herself to ignore the girl's presence. Seras was unsure whether it was Zoe's virgin blood or something else about her that made the girl seem so tempting. Seras pondered if this strangeness in Zoe's blood was what Ggothua had wanted destroyed, she clearly remember how sweet Zoe's blood had been when she had sneakily tasted it shortly after rescuing the girl.

"Seras? Is something wrong, we've stopped?" Zoe asked snapping Seras out of her thoughts.

"Errrr...I'm hungry...sorry."

"Oh..." Zoe breathed trying not to let any nervousness enter her voice. "Will sleeping in your coffin fix that too?"

"Mostly, I'll always feel it but at full strength it's so much easier to ignore." Seras explained.

"Well...let's go get your coffin first. Then we'll find Dirge." Zoe nervously grinned.

"Yes Master." Seras chuckled at the girl's change of mind; it seemed even Zoe had the human instinct for self-preservation and it had finally kicked in.

The pair descended in silence for five minutes before Zoe spoke again. "Are we there yet?"

"Huh?" Seras blinked in the darkness and actually paused in their descent at the absurdity of that question.

"How much further?"

"Well..." Seras said glancing at the shaft wall where the level number was wrote. "We've gone down three levels."

"So how far is a level?"

"Dunno." Seras stated restarting to climb down. Maybe Zoe did not actually have any self-preservation instincts after all.

"How many levels is there?"

"No idea."

"Oh..." there was a slight pause. "How long will this take?"

Seras sighed; this was going to be a long descent.

------------

Deep in the basement parking area of St. Fulci's Hospital sparks were flying, literally as the sentient zombie known as Dirge was currently welding. The intense white-blue light from the welding equipment made the shadows stretch and dance in time with the fizzing hissing noise while orange sparks shot off in random directions like miniature fireworks.

Dirge was holding a black welding mask in front of his face but that was the only protective gear he was using, and that was only due to the fact that working eyes were hard to come by. Between Nephthys' knowledge of human anatomy and his own knowledge of various chemicals used for preservation they could fix pretty much any damage they received to themselves, as long as they could find the parts; which was why they had been stocking up on zombies.

"Finally done." Dirge rumbled to himself as the last welding to the old hearse's chassis was completed and he put the welder down along with the mask. Now that the noise of welding had finished the sounds of Mozart once again filled the underground parking lot. Taking time to examine the section he had just welded Dirge congratulated himself on how straight the last one had come out.

"Excellent." Dirge said standing back up and rubbing his hands together. Now he could start on putting the guts of the hearse back together. Nephthys often wondered aloud why he wanted to fix the battered old car, after all she reasoned they had the pick of anything left lying around.

"_That car saw us through to the end. It contains a lot of memories." Dirge explained. "And besides, it's like us damaged but still salvageable."_

"_You see it as a metaphor for our own existence." Nephthys pondered. "Hmmm, interesting."_

"_Exactly." Dirge pointed at her. "And anyway I'm bored, this is something else to fill my time with and what do we have but time."_

Dirge looked around the area of the underground parking lot he had set aside as his own private machine shop. Car parts lay neatly laid out all around, tires, radiators, pipes, sheets of metal. Amongst all the bits and pieces were the piles of books on everything car related that Dirge could find. There was a large heavy bench covered in all kinds of tools sat in a corner out of the way.

Dirge's eyes settled on his favourite piece that was going to go in the new and improved hearse. Hanging from a rolling hoist by thick chains was a massive V8 engine block complete with an obscenely large chrome-plated supercharger sticking off the top. The engine block had even been lovingly cleaned of grease, grime and rust and it was polished to a shine; this was what Dirge called the Heart of The Beast.

Dirge wandered over and placed a cold dead hand against the shiny engine block. "Not long now girl." The zombie stated watching his distorted reflection and paused seeing something that brought back memories. Turning his head away from the engine he looked across to the far wall where Harkonnen, Seras' massive gun in inverted commas was still leant against. Dirge was still undecided what to do with the cannon, it was too large for him to fire, even with his rigourmortis enhanced strength he could not use it. He had debated whether to find a way to attach it to the hearse but was still undecided.

Thinking of Seras made Dirge feel a sadness that he was unable fully to express being dead and all. It was July so four months and it would be the anniversary of Seras' finally death. Saving Zoe had ended as a bittersweet victory for them. Of course Dirge knew there was no point in moping about it, Seras was killed protecting Zoe. It had happened and he would do his best to live up to her example.

Dirge's serious expression lightened as he turned back to the engine block and reached down to lift the license plate that was dangling from the engine block. He had found it on a fancy imported sports car that had been crashed sometime in the past and immediately decided this was going on the hearse, after all the previous owners would not need it.

Dirge grinned as he read the plate again, SERA5. He hoped he could tune the hearse to be powerful enough to live up to the name.

"Dirge! Get up here, you need to see this." Nephthys' voice came over the loud speakers causing Dirge to frown at the urgency in the Egyptian zombie's voice as it took something big to get her worked up over anything and let the licence plate he was holding drop away.

"Dirge!" Nephthys' voice came once again. "Quickly!"

"Alright already!" Dirge shouted back while heading towards the stairs. "Don't bust a stitch or nuthing."

------------

"This is boring." Zoe stated in the darkness of the lift shaft and Seras did her best to tune out Zoe's whining by counting how many times she let go of the cable as they descended. She was currently at five hundred and thirty four.

"Yes Master." Seras replied automatically. _Five hundred and thirty five_.

"Will we be there soon?"

"Yes Master." _Five hundred and thirty six_.

Zoe's face scrunched up into a frown. She had a sudden sneaking suspicion that Seras was not listening to her anymore. "Are you listening to me?"

"Yes Master." _Five hundred and thirty seven._

_She is ignoring me_! Zoe thought in anger and began plotting what she could do that would make Seras reply with anything but yes Master.

_Five hundred and thirty eight. Hmm has she actually shut up?_

"Rawr brains!" Zoe suddenly burst out and began to pretend to be munching on Seras' head. "Raw rawr raw."

"Yes Master." Seras replied ignoring the girl's zombie impression._Five hundred and thirty nine._

Zoe growled and stopped her zombie eating brains impression and mentally grumbled about vampires that ignored her and getting hair between her teeth. What else could she try?

_Five hundred and forty._

_You could pretend to be a vampire instead of a zombie,_ a thought popped into Zoe's head and she grinned evilly in the darkness as she suddenly got another idea; strange how it did not sound like her voice. If this one did not work she would give up for now. Zoe still grinning leaned down towards Seras' neck.

"It's a beautiful night don't you think, Policegirl?" Zoe felt the words leave her mouth unbidden as she whispered them into Seras' ear and then proceeded to lightly clamp her teeth against Seras' neck.

_Five hundred and WHAT THE HELL?_ Seras instantly stiffened, the descent halted and eyes wide as the words filtered into her brain and at the feeling of teeth touching her neck she found herself unconsciously drawn back to that night in Cheddar. She was lying on her back staring up at the moon as her life drained away onto the grass. Her view was suddenly filed with Alucard's face, the familiar orange tinted glasses and red wide brimmed hat as he leaned down towards her grinning with all his teeth shown.

Seras suddenly snapped back to the present with a jerk which knocked her head against Zoe's face.

"Ow!" Zoe gasped as Seras' head caught her in the face causing Zoe to accidentally clamp her mouth shut. Seras hissed as the girl's teeth actually took a chunk of skin from her neck and the sudden blossom of pain caused the vampire's hands let go of the cable.

There was a second of weightlessness before the pair found themselves tumbling down the shaft. Zoe began shrieking as the pair accelerated towards the bottom of the shaft. Seras felt the girl's grip tighten around her neck and it was a good thing the vampire did not need to breathe.

"Shit!" Seras swore as she saw the bottom of the shaft for the first time as they spun head-over-heels and it was rapidly approaching. Seras reached out with her right hand, fingers stretching towards the cable and managed to grab it. That was when the pain hit her, as she clamped her already damaged hand around the thick cable the speed they had picked up continued to drag them down. Seras gritted her teeth and tried to keep hold despite the pain.

They began to slowly slow down and just as Seras started to think they were about to stop she suddenly lost all control of her fingers and her hand came away from the cable. Seras' eyes widened as she realised the tendons in her hand must have been burnt right through and snapped.

They were now falling towards the bottom of the shaft with Zoe underneath of Seras and the vampire knew if she did not do something quickly Zoe was going to hit the floor first. Seras grabbed Zoe with her left hand and yanked the girl off her back roughly and proceeded to pull the girl to her chest and wrapped her arms as best she around Zoe.

They hit what Seras had thought was the ground with a dull thud that echoed metallically throughout the shaft, kind of like the noise a steel drum made. Zoe felt her breath get knocked out of her and Seras groaned in pain from the impact and slowly let her arms fall away from Zoe.

After a minute of just lying there Zoe finally raised her head in disbelief that she was still alive. She still could not see anything but the sound of Seras groaning was kind of reassuring.

"Seras?" Zoe asked feeling the body below her squirm but there was no reply. Unsure what to do Zoe reached behind her and fumbled with the zipper on her backpack. Getting the backpack open she stuck her hand in rummaged around until her fingers touched the torch she had in there. Zoe pulled the torch out and flicked it on instantly bathing Seras below her in light.

"Gah!" the vampire hissed in surprise at the sudden light being shone into her face that hurt her eyes. "Point that somewhere else!"

"Sorry." Zoe mumbled turning the torch away from Seras to check their surroundings. It seemed they had landed on the very lift itself and it was lucky that the roof was actually a fairly sturdy if thin metal sheeting. Zoe could not help herself and began giggling when she realised there was a faintly Seras shaped dent in the lift.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Seras yelled in anger and shock as she managed to regain enough of her wits to sit up. She was not actually shouting at Zoe but the young girl instantly assumed that.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bite." Zoe apologised stopping her giggling and put her tongue against her top lip where it felt numb, the coppery taste indicated her lip was bleeding, probably from Seras' head hitting her.

"What made you do that?" Seras growled feeling a bead of wetness building on her neck. Great, Zoe actually made her bleed with that stunt. Seras concentrated on the small cut and to her surprise the blood pulled back in and healed over. It seemed she still had no problem healing small wounds.

"I just...you were ignoring..." Zoe mumbled. "Sorry."

Seras sighed and shook her head slowly and felt her annoyance drain away. "Just don't try that again okay."

"Okay." Zoe replied in a tiny voice and was sure she heard a man laughing.

Seras frowned as she raised her right hand and examined the damage. As she suspected her hand was wrecked, her fingers flopped around lifelessly and the bandage had been ripped off somewhere up the cable along with other bits of flesh.

"Oh god your hand!" Zoe gasped at the sight of Seras lifting her fingers one by one and letting them flop back down and began to feel very guilty at causing that sort of damage to Seras.

"I never noticed Master." Seras stated sarcastically.

"Can you fix it?" Zoe asked quietly.

"Maybe..." Seras stated and tried to make at least the tendons repair but as she had suspected her hand remained as it was. "Guess not."

"I...I'm sorry." Zoe apologised again while Seras continued to examine her hand.

"Don't worry too much." Seras stated noticing how upset Zoe actually seemed about her hand. "I think I can still use it."

"How?" Zoe asked in surprise and leaned closer to see what Seras was going to do.

"Easy enough I hope." Seras let a faint smile cross her face. "I've seen my sire move limbs that have been sliced off before so moving my fingers should be easy."

"Really?"

Seras kept her hand raised and concentrated on moving her fingers and slowly they began to twitch before she clenched her hand into a fist and reopened them again. With a satisfied nodded Seras climbed to her feet and groaned as she felt the bones in her spine pop back into position.

"Wow! How can you do that?" Zoe asked climbing to her feet too.

"Pretty easy just not as natural as normal movement." Seras stated glancing around for a way out. "We vampires have control over our form and this is just a case of making my form change but only around my hand. Takes more thought so I doubt I can use my hand as well as normal."

"Cool. So vampires could change into anything?" Zoe asked curiously as Seras stepped over to the other side of the lift.

"Well...my sire could and I can but I've never met another one who could do what we can to such a degree." Seras explained. "Ah ha! A way in."

"What do you mean?" Zoe leaned over to watch as Seras gave a swift kick to the access hatch on the roof which was sent crashing to the floor of the lift. Seras dropped to her knees and stuck her head into the lift to look around.

"I've met some who could change into an animal form but none like myself." Seras' voice was muffled as she had her head in the lift. The vampire pulled her head out again as the lift was completely empty. "Gangrel I believe they called themselves."

Seras then slipped her legs into the opening and dropped into the lift.

"Jump down Master." The vampire called up and Zoe glanced in hesitantly before doing as Seras asked. Seras caught Zoe easily as she dropped through the opening and let the girl down to her feet gently. Zoe spun the torch around the inside of the lift and was almost disappointed by the plainness of it; this lift had obviously just been used for moving equipment.

"So why can you do such amazing stuff if others can't?" Zoe asked after a full three sixty sweep of the lift.

"I'm not sure but I think it's something that was done to my sire by the Hellsings many years ago." Seras replied walking over to the lift's control panel and examining it. "Wonder if this still works." Seras pondered before pushing a button. To her surprise the lift suddenly juddered before they began descending.

"Well what do you know," Seras blinked in surprise and turned to Zoe. "It still works. This beats climbing eh."

"Yeah." Zoe agreed.

Soon the lift stopped with a slight jerk and the doors slid open revealing another large pair of doors, the twins of the ones Seras had opened earlier. These ones unlike the ones above were wide open and the pair cautiously stepped into the large room.

"It's just like upstairs." Zoe commented sweeping her torch around.

"Pretty much." Seras agreed, aside from the rubble lying around and the cracks running through the ceiling. "Zoe, whatever you do don't make any loud noises."

"Why?" Zoe asked turning to look at Seras.

"The ceiling looks a little unstable to me and we don't want it collapsing on us." Seras pointed out.

"Oh." Zoe whispered.

"Come on." Seras indicated for Zoe to follow and the pair set off towards the far end of the room which led to the only corridor coming off the bay. They paused as Seras examined the signs attached to the walls.

"Cybernetics, armour and weapons research, genetics, A.I, Nanotechnology, Quantum Physics," Seras read out. "Wow they sure did lots of stuff down here."

"Which one are we going towards?" Zoe asked as she examined the various colours painted in lines down the walls.

"Probably none at all," Seras smirked and at Zoe's quizzical look she elaborated. "They blew all the labs up remember. There's probably a cave in further down this way."

"Oh."

"Come on let's see if we're trapped down here." Seras grinned far more cheerfully than she actually felt and set off at a brisk pace closely followed by Zoe. As Seras had expected they soon came across a caved in section completely blocking off their path.

"Damn." Seras sighed glancing over the pile of rubble.

"Are we stuck?" Zoe asked fearfully.

"Give me a minute." Seras stated and walked over to the rubble and looked around. There was a faint breeze and Seras was sure she could smell fresh air. The vampire climbed carefully onto the rubble and sniffed around before finding what she was looking for.

"Better stand back Zoe." Seras warned. "I'm going to pull some of this out and there's no telling if it'll collapse."

"What if it does?" Zoe asked backing up.

"Then I'll likely be crushed and you'll starve to death down here." Seras stated with a sickly grin.

------------

"So what's happened?" Dirge asked stepping into the morgue where Nephthys was still watching the monitors carefully. "Our buddies appeared again?"

"Something like that." Nephthys replied cryptically in her foreign accented voice.

"Something like that." Dirge repeated quickly covering the distance between them. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you guessed mostly true." Nephthys stated turning to watch Dirge approach.

"Huh?" the large zombie frowned. "What's with the all the cloak and dagger? Just tell me straight."

"You would not believe me if I did."

"And what exactly wouldn't I believe?" Dirge asked his annoyance clear in his voice as he examined the monitors. As far as he could see there was nothing different than from earlier.

"Not what is going on now, but then." Nephthys tapped a few buttons and the largest monitor switched to a view on the side of the Acropolis. Dirge noticed that the timer in the corner was set to roughly ten minutes previous after checking the other monitors with live feeds.

"So...what am I seeing?" Dirge asked after boring view did nothing special.

"There." Nephthys pointed to a spot on the screen which Dirge examined. There did seem to be a movement but he was not sure.

"What is that?"

"I'll zoom in now. Brace yourself."

"Brace myself?" Dirge raised his eyebrows as the view zoomed as close in as it could and the movement became clear. As Nephthys had warned Dirge was certain if he had a heartbeat it would have stopped. Zoe Elgin had just climbed over the edge of the ravine that surrounded the Acropolis. It may have been six years since he had last seen her and she had grown but Dirge recognised Zoe immediately.

"Zoe..." Dirge leaned closer to the monitor in shock. He could not believe he was seeing this; Zoe had somehow gotten out of the Acropolis and climbed up the ravine. "What...what the HELL IS SHE DOING!" Dirge bellowed out in shock.

"Leaving obviously." Nephthys deadpanned. "But it gets better yet."

"Wha?" Dirge's eyeballs swivelled in their sockets as he looked at the Egyptian zombie beside him.

"Look again."

Dirge felt the cold hand of fear clutch his insides as he began fearing the worst. He almost did not want to look at the monitor but found himself watching anyway as Zoe knelt by the edge and reached her hands down to help someone else climb up.

If seeing Zoe climb over the edge had surprised him the sight of Seras following the girl up made his jaw fall open and eyeballs threaten to fall out. Dirge was certain he was seeing things as he made a very good goldfish impression. On the screen Seras was now standing by Zoe and ruffled the girl's hair before the pair turned to have a look at the Acropolis for a few seconds before they began walking away at a fair clip.

"So..." Nephthys stated and paused noting Dirge was still frozen and she decided to wait for Dirge to reboot his brain.

Seras was alive...the person he had thought destroyed those years previous was still alive...well about. By the looks of it she had been with Zoe in the Acropolis as well? Dirge felt all kinds of emotions race through his head. Confusion. How the hell had she survived being blown to little tiny pieces? Why had she not let him...them know? Happiness. Seras was still around! Fear. What the hell were the pair leaving for?

The bundle of emotions, many conflicting were too much for him to take in all at that moment so he settled on the easiest one. Anger.

Nephthys actually took a respectable step back from Dirge as the large zombie began fuming. That was not the result she had expected. Surprise yes, anger was high on the list but a rage was not what she expected.

"Dirge?" Nephthys asked warily watching him clench and unclench his fists and grind his teeth.

"Come on." Dirge suddenly spoke his voice like granite. "Let's get going."

"And where are we going?" Nephthys asked even though she knew what he was going to say.

"To kick a certain vampire's ass for letting me think she was dead all these years and find out what the _hell_ they're thinking!"

**Chapter 5**

Morning dawned silently on the Acropolis as it did every day. Once upon a time it would have been accompanied by bird song but that was no longer the case ever since the outbreak, the birds were all undead and their calls if ever heard now brought terror and death.

The sky was clear of clouds promising that the day would be glorious and the morning activities had begun as soon as it was light enough to see without powerful spotlights. The gardens were full of movement as people watered their crops and many sent curious and worried glances towards the group of outsiders camped in the centre of the yard.

There was a distinct air of unease around the base, partly because of Priest and his followers returning and mostly because the main gates were wide open. Even if there was an increased presence of the guards on the walls watching for any sign of zombie activity and the outsiders the fact that the gates were open was enough to unsettle many.

Zora Elgin yawned tiredly as she exited the female bathing area having just showered. Again, due to constraints in size and fresh water the Acropolis only have a couple of areas set aside for bathing, the same was true with the toilets.

It was strange not to see Seras getting washed as they often chatted together before heading to the medical section. Zora did remember briefly that Seras had seemed off last night and wondered if her friend had caught a cold. Maybe she should check on her and also Zora was feeling slightly guilty about running off but she was unsure why.

"I'll check on Seras just in case and then get Zoe something to eat. I hope she's in a better mood today." Zora stated quietly to herself deciding to head to see if Seras was in her room. Zora wandered back down the corridor towards the living areas. She passed many of her neighbours as they made their ways to wherever they needed to be that day, many passing greetings which Zora returned. There were a few though that completely blanked her. Zora ignored them too, they were the ones that made snide remarks about Zoe or they did until Soren made certain rules abundantly clear.

Zora soon finally found herself standing outside Seras' room which was right at the furthest end of the living area and paused to read the name plate by the door. Seras Victoria was the only name there and for the first time ever Zora frowned as the significance of that dawned on her.

It was very unusual to have only one name by the door as they generally did not have enough rooms to give one to every single person living in the Acropolis. The largest were given to families and the rest divided amongst everyone else, meaning many had to share. Zora herself shared a room with two other women who she got along with well, yet here was Seras' with only one name.

Zora pondered that wondering why it had never registered with her before. It was true that Zoe had a room all to herself, it even had a little on-suite but that was because she often tried those silly escape attempts and had to be watched. Another odd thought entered Zora's mind as she stood examining the name plate, she had never been in Seras' room either, although she had invited Seras in for drinks before in her shared room.

Zora felt a sudden curiosity as to what Seras' room was actually like and raised her hand to press the buzzer button on the keypad lock. She waited for an answer. Nothing.

Zora's frown deepened and she felt a worry grip her. Could something have happened to her friend? The purple haired woman pressed the open button and was surprised when the door did slide open. That was odd, everyone put a locking code on their door, it was a requirement to try and prevent arguments over things going missing.

Zora stepped up to the doorway curiously and placed a hand against the frame so she could lean in and look around the room. Inside it was completely darkened and Zora could barely see more than what was revealed by the light that spilled in from the well lit corridor.

"Seras?" Zora asked carefully while straining to see the room's inside. There was no answer and Zora carefully stepped into the room. There was an odd feeling of creepiness that seemed to emanate from the darkened room and Zora felt goosebumps rise on her arms. The room was cold and felt strangely unlived in.

With a whoosh and shallow clunk the door shut behind her and Zora jumped in surprise as the room was plunged into total darkness. Zoe's mother stood frozen in the room for a moment; some instinct urging her to leave quickly and Zora almost turned but concern for her friend made her pause.

"Seras? Are you here?" Zora asked as she felt along the wall for a light switch. "If you are I'm going to turn on the lights. Okay?"

Zora's fingers finally found the switch and with a click the room was suddenly bathed in the flickering of a fluorescent light turning on. The moment the room was fully lit the oppressive feeling Zora had been filled with vanished as if chased away by the light and she let out a breath in relief.

The first thing that stood out to Zora now she could see, was that the window at the far end of the medium sized room was boarded over, allowing no light from outside into the room. Now that was decidedly strange.

Zora's frown deepened as she swept her eyes over the rest of the room. No carpet or even a rug on the floor, there was no pictures on the walls and the bed was as far from the window as possible and had no covers on it, only the white bed sheet. Zora walked over to the bed curiously and saw that there was an impression in the mattress so Seras must use it.

Zora touched the bed sheets and frowned when she saw there actually seemed to be a fair bit of dust on them. Did Seras even use this room?

Her eyes were then drawn to the only other thing in the almost sterile room; a desk and Zora noticed what looked like a metal bracelet laid on the flat surface. Walking over she carefully picked up the bracelet and her eyes widened in recognition. This was Seras' communication device, the same as the one everyone had. The type that was too tight to actually remove over your hand and constantly read your life signs.

"How…why did she remove this?" Zora stated out loud. She turned slowly from the desk examining the communicator while trying to place the pieces to this puzzle together and drawing a blank until her thoughts where interrupted by her foot catching something metal and Zora glanced down. It was a small round metal bin, the type usually found in offices nothing unusual, but the contents looked odd.

She placed the communicator back on the desk and knelt down to check the bin contents and gasped in shock at what she pulled put. An empty blood packet.

"What is…it can't…Seras?" Zora breathed in disbelief as she examined the packet carefully. It was definitely one of the missing ones from the blood bank and it had been drained leaving only a small dark dried patch in one corner. Zora carefully lifted the tube that hung from the bottom and saw that the end look chewed.

_And Seras is a bloody real blood sucking vampire! _Zoe's words from the previous night echoed around Zora's head even as she dropped the empty packet back into the bin.

"It's not possible…there must be another explanation." Zora stumbled back as the room spun. Why would Seras steal blood packets? Zora quickly dismissed Zoe's words as impossible and tried to rationalise the find. Maybe Seras was an anemic and needed regular blood transfusions? Or something similar…but why did she not say anything?

Zora regained her composure as best she could, she would have to inform Soren of Seras' activities even if she was a close friend but more pressing she had a to check on Zoe…just in case.

Zora quickly exited Seras' room and hurried away towards Zoe's room almost knocking somebody over in her haste. Zora barely registered the raised voice calling after her as she moved down the corridors at almost a jog.

When Zora reached Zoe's room she quickly tapped into the access code and even before the door had fully opened she was inside. Like Seras' room the lights were off and Zora's heart leapt into her throat as she quickly switched lights on.

"Zoe!" Zora shouted out seeing the bed empty and no other sign of her daughter. Zora stumbled over to the door at the back that was the tiny on-suite and prayed that Zoe was hiding in there. Zora opened the door and looked in only to find it empty.

"No!" She turned quickly in panic. Zoe could not have gotten out. That was when she saw the communicator bracelet lying in two pieces on the desk in the corner.

Rushing over Zora began panicking as she picked up one half of the communicator and realised it had actually been ripped in two. These things were not exceptionally tough but most people could not break them like that, at least not without hurting the wearer.

She dropped the shattered communicator as she saw a folded piece of paper on the desk with mum written on it. Zora reached out with shaking fingers to pick the paper up and unfolded it. It was a handwritten note and she instantly recognised Zoe's writing.

_Hi Mum, I'm just leaving a note because Seras says I should. We're leaving tonight so I should say bye and I love you even if you've never believed me. Don't worry about me Seras will protect me._

"Oh God..." Zora choked out dropping the note. Zoe was gone!

------------

Soren woke precisely at seven as he had done for a long time, despite getting to sleep after three in the morning what with all the excitement of Priest arriving and then having to see Blue Team off on their hunt.

Soren yawned, sat up slowly and scratched his clean shaven head slowly, his mind already starting to go over what he would need to do today. The large athletic man proceeded to pull the thin covers off and swung his legs off the bed to begin his morning workout. A few quick stretches and then straight into sit-ups, push-ups, chin-ups and finished off with a short jog to the showers.

Once showered and after carefully trimming his beard to perfection he was feeling much more refreshed and alert. Soren then returned to his room and donned his uniform. He picked up the papers with all that he needed to go over this morning, such as who exactly in the guards were still here, what shifts they were on and who was able to pull double shifts. Priest could not have picked a better time to arrive Soren decided sarcastically. He had far more planning to work through because of that guy, there was another thing to dislike him for.

"Well time waits for no man." Soren stated and headed towards the door.

He had just reached towards the button to open the door than it slid open and a frantic Zora ran into him.

"Whoa! Careful Zora." Soren stated in surprise as the short woman ran into him with a fair amount of force. He immediately knew something was wrong when Zora raised her tear stained face to him and instantly knew his day was about to get worse.

"Zoe! Seras has taken her!" Zora burst out.

"Huh?" Soren blinked unsure what exactly Zora meant.

"Seras has Zoe!" Zora almost shouted. "They're outside! She's taken my little girl!"

"Wait a minute." Soren said placing his hands on Zora's shoulder to try and hold her still as she was shaking. "Seras...the girl who works under you?"

"Yes! They've gone!" Zora sobbed. "You have to get her back Soren!"

------------

Ggothua paused in his random wanderings of the featureless black plains that was his imprisonment inside the vampire as he came across something strange. There was a man sitting and rocking back and forth in front of the large armour plated being's path. The guy had long greasy looking hair and a crazed fearful look on his face and did not react to Ggothua's presence at all, he merely sat there rocking and mumbling to himself.

Ggothua cocked his head to one side in curiosity. This was unusual, he had never encountered other beings imprisoned in Seras even if he often heard them. The vampire usually kept them all separate and contained in their own versions of hell or heaven depending on who it was.

A strange but welcome distraction to the large creature and Ggothua growled with the pent-up aggression he had decided to take out on this unfortunate soul. With a roar Ggothua grabbed the human by the throat and lifted him to his face, the man's feet dangling almost two feet off the ground.

His brown bloodshot eyes widened in absolute terror at Ggothua's monstrous visage and the human began to shriek even as Ggothua used his exposed tentacles to wrap around his victim's limbs before pulling them taut. The human's shrieks increased as Ggothua sadistically began applying more pressure until they finally gave into the giant's inhuman strength. The man's scream's faded off to a wet gurgle as he was ripped apart and his throat crushed.

Ggothua roared to the black sky in triumph and dropped the remains which faded to black and slowly vanished, the soul would eventually reform somewhere else inside Seras and no doubt go back to its rocking and mumbling. The multi-eyed monster then deflated, his head lowered and shoulders sagged. His petty victory over the defenceless human soul he had stumbled upon left him feeling hollow. Just how far he had fallen to be pleased by such a pathetic victory? Is this all he had left? To take pleasure in defeating the already damned and defeated?

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Ggothua's many eyes blinked at the sound of someone clapping behind him and the giant creature spun around quicker than his size would suggest he could move. Ggothua hissed and raised an arm pointing his weaponry at the being behind him, fully expecting it to be the vampire Seras trying to break him once more.

It was not. In fact, Ggothua was unsure what exactly he was facing. The man, he assumed it was a man stood smiling disturbingly his long tapered fingers held together at the finally clap. He was dressed from head to toe in an elaborate red coat that had elegant golden embroidery running in fancy patterns. A spotless and a whiter than white shirt with a thick red tie with matching gold pattern tucked neatly into his suit-like long over-coat.

The reason Ggothua had trouble figuring out if this was a human was that the man's skin was completely grey and slightly mottled. But it was his face that was most confusing to the former Xar. It looked not out of place on a sci-fi program with strange alien creatures. He had two eyes, a nose and mouth in the usual positions and yet their shape and colour was so inhuman he looked alien. Yellow irises on red eyes, no hair but a strangely crown shaped bony structure rose from his forehead and various bony extrusions jutted from his chin and cheeks. Ggothua's observational abilities registered another oddity in that his face was completely symmetrical as if made that way.

"How very beautifully cruel." The man spoke his voice gurgled and hissed and yet sounded elegant and somehow regal at the same time. "I have been looking forward to meeting you Mr...hmmm...Ggothua is it not? For some time now."

Ggothua growled menacingly as his eyes narrowed. "Identify yourself."

"Oh where are my manners." The man smiled sinisterly. "I am merely a shadow of my former self so you will have to forgive me if I do not give you my true name. If you wish to label me, you may address me simply as Fiend." The man uncurled his hands and placed them behind his back smoothly. "It is a simple and elegant way of describing one such as myself."

"Creature has labelled itself as Fiend. Definition. A malevolent or evil supernatural being, often described as a demon or fallen angel." Ggothua spoke with a slight pause between sentences while conversing internally with his other parts. One part of Ggothua wanted to dismiss the man's words as a delusion of grandeur but his current situation proved there was more to the world than even the Xar had thought.

"Fascinating." Fiend stated raising one hand to his chin in contemplation. "You appear to be more than a singular being. I would have enjoyed meeting you in the real world, the secrets you must contain. Alas though, that is not possible."

"Identify your species and intent." Ggothua stated menacingly taking a thudding footstep forward. "Or remove your presence."

"Not one for conversation I see." Fiend grinned revealing fangs. "Although I can not blame you, this place is oh so dreary and the torture as she tries to break you…it takes a strong will to remain unbroken. Or in your case wills."

Fiend raised the bony ridge that passed as his eyebrow at Ggothua's tentacles starting to writhe aggressively and the large creature's jaw opened slightly.

"I see you grow impatient so I'll accede to reveal that which you ask. What I want is most likely the same as your own desire; _revenge_ on our host…Seras Victoria!" Fiend spat the name out displeasure clearly shown on his face and after a pause he regained his composure and continued. "As to my species you are familiar with that, I was in unlife a vampire myself."

Ggothua hissed in surprise, eyes widened and he almost took a step back. This creature before him was another vampire. That was when the anger returned and with a roar Ggothua charged Fiend who stood calmly even as the massive black armoured creature closed in on him. Ggothua grabbed Fiend by the throat and lifted the unresisting vampire to face level and hissed in his deformed face.

"Listen to my words Ggothua," Fiend said quickly but with no hint of fear. "Destroy me now and you will miss the _only_ chance you will_ever_ get to escape this place."

Ggothua paused at those words and leaned in closer, his many eyes blinking as he examined the vampire carefully.

"Elaborate." Ggothua finally commanded but did not release Fiend.

"A wise decision," Fiend smiled. "Take a look around and tell me what do you see."

Ggothua eyed Fiend suspiciously before glancing around the area from the corner of his eyes. The world seemed as it normally did, darkness for a far as the eye could see.

"Nothing." Ggothua rumbled. "I detect nothing and only see myself and you."

"You won't see them by looking for them." Fiend stated, "But you have recently began catching movement at the edge of your vision?"

Ggothua cocked his head, it was true what Fiend was saying. "Continue."

"These glimpses are the many souls contained inside our host. Like both of us, damned and defeated by _her! _Tell me, have you ever seen them before now? No. Now why is this? Why did you meet that soul that you pulled apart so enjoyably? Why are we even able to have this conversation?"

Ggothua pondered Fiend's words and came to the conclusion that Fiend did know something; after all he was a vampire.

"I will tell you what I have deduced." Fiend made a gesture with his hand completely at ease even though he was held off the ground by a creature with a far greater bulk than himself. "She is weakening. The barriers she erected to keep us all separated are failing. She has allowed a weakness to grow over time until it has gotten too much. And the time is nearly upon us that we may strike out at her!"

Ggothua's eyes widened at these words and internally began conversing. _Could it be true? Perhaps. Maybe it is a trick of the vampire to break us. If it is true why is the creature approaching us? Conclusion, it requires assistance. Proceed with caution._

"Your words mean one thing, but you wrap them in questions and misdirection." Ggothua spoke. "You attempt to manipulate me to your own ends."

"Ahhh." Fiend grinned. "I see your monstrous size and visage hides an impressive intellect. I had expected a brute and have under estimated you and apologise. In vampire society one does not last long without learning to hide your intentions from those who would choose to use you in their own schemes."

Vampire society…Ggothua mulled those words over and it frightened him to think there maybe hundreds perhaps thousands of these powerful creatures still at large in the world and they were immune. This information needed to be delivered to the hive.

Ggothua gently placed Fiend back on the ground and stepped away releasing the supposed vampire. As Fiend seemed unafraid of him he might get more information out of the vampire by playing along with it.

"Then let us talk as equals." Ggothua stated looking down at the former vampire. "You state she is weakening. You know this because you are like her. How does this help me and why do you require my assistance?"

"I am nothing like her." Fiend stated with a look of disgust. "She is a freak, an oddity. A childe vampire, little more than a fledgling happens to cross paths with me who has over nine centuries of time to amass great power and is defeated by her…it is obscene even to think such a thing is possible. And that was how she broke me, my shock at the defeat and this place did that and now I am one of her puppets to control just like the others. Thankfully she has very little use for doing such things and mostly leaves us alone."

"Then Seras Victoria is an exception?" Ggothua stated confused.

"I do not truly know what she is." Fiend sighed. "All I do, is she is not like any other vampire I have met. Never had I heard or imagined a vampire could take the souls of those defeated into themselves, gaining their power _and_ knowledge."

"Which is why you require my assistance," Ggothua stated having figured out what this meant. "She has all your knowledge and power and you cannot move against her. But…she has not defeated me fully."

"Precisely," Fiend stated pleased. "You have not submitted to her yet. That makes you dangerous to her."

"Explain." Ggothua asked eagerly.

"There is one other soul in this body that she gives free roam. A former lover if I am not mistaken and even has the ability to lend her body to him." Fiend sounded vaguely sickened and started pacing slowly in front of Ggothua who watched him carefully. "She maybe powerful beyond our imagination but she still has many weaknesses. She has a strange connection to the land of her birth, not unheard of but still unusual. The longer away from this land the weaker she becomes, but she has a way around this weakness. She carries some of that land with her. At times she keeps it hidden and returns to it when the first signs begin. As you may have guessed I've witnessed these weakening barriers before, this is the fourth such occurrence and the longest she has ever been away." Fiend stopped his pacing and turned to Ggothua once more his grin turning malicious. "Which brings us to you Mr. Ggothua. I believe that when she returns to that earth to rest and recover you have a chance at seizing her body, ripping control away from her and gaining all of her power!"

------------

"Well?" Soren asked Professor Tallman as she examined the bin before him as they stood inside Seras' room. Zora hovered nervously behind Soren and fidgeted, her worry over her daughter's wellbeing obvious.

"These are definitely from our stores." Professor Tallman agreed with Zora over where the packets had came from. "What she was doing with them...I don't know."

"Are all the missing ones there?" Soren asked while flipping the papers he had attached to a clipboard and reading how many had gone missing.

"Not all of them." The redhead stated and began placing the packets on the table in neat rows. She examined them carefully checking the dates. "But judging by the dates these should be the ones missing for the last two years."

"Jesus. This is far too weird for this time in the morning." Soren groaned before tapping his communicator. "Cortello, this is Barrack. Any sign of them?"

"Cortello here. No sir nothing in sector C." A voice replied over the communicator. "We're moving to check the final sector. D sector sir."

"So far nothing." Soren stated. "It really does look like they've somehow gotten out."

"Soren." Zora spoke with a shaky voice. "Please, you have to send a team to bring her back."

Soren felt his heart go out to Zora but he could not do that.

"Zora, listen. I can't send a team to track them down, not at this moment." Soren spoke carefully. "With Blue Team out there already we're undermanned here. If I sent a team out now we would be practically defenceless. The best I can do is let Blue Team know and they can keep an eye open."

"No! Soren please!"

"I'm sorry."

"You have to! She's only twelve and..." Zora was practically shouting and Soren reached out to grab Zora's arms and held her still silencing her.

"And six years ago she was a six year old child who crossed a tremendous distance through the worst cold zones and returned almost unscathed. I think she will be capable of surviving for a while, hopefully long enough for Blue Team to return and then we can send a team out for them." Soren reasoned trying to calm Zora down. "And this time she has taken her vest with her and at least has someone else there."

"Someone who has been stealing blood packets for God knows what reason!" Zora shouted. "You can't leave her with Seras!"

"Perhaps I have a solution to this problem." The croaky voice of Father Ammon stated from the doorway making everyone glance over at him. Soren felt his jaw tighten unconsciously as he saw Priest standing just slightly behind Father Ammon.

"Father Ammon?" Soren stated dumbfounded as the old man entered the room with Priest following closely behind him. Soren could not believe what he was seeing, Father Ammon detested Priest and here he was leading the guy here and into their own private business. "What is he doing here?" Soren asked confused as Priest walked past him toward Professor Tallman.

"I approached him and asked for his help in this matter." Father Ammon stated. "We have both come to the same conclusion."

"What conclusion?" Soren asked while Zora looked between Soren, Priest and Father Ammon a faint look of hope on her face.

"I'm afraid we can't divulge that yet." Priest stated picking up one of the empty blood packets and examined the chewed tube before placing it back with a satisfied nod. "But judging by what I can see of this room I can agree with Father Ammon's deductions. It is pleasing to find he recognises the signs."

"What signs?" Professor Tallman asked curiosity getting the better of her. The way the two holy men were talking, it seemed they knew what was going on.

"I wish to offer my help." Priest stated ignoring the professor's question. "As it is partly our fault you are so short staffed I would like to search for the missing girl, with your permission of course."

"Really?" Soren asked suspicious of Priest's motives. "Why?"

"Your distrust hurts Lieutenant. I just wish to help people if I can." Priest smiled, his expression completely the opposite of his words.

"Please," Zora burst out stepping over to Priest and taking his hand pleadingly. "Find her for me."

Priest continued smiling while he wrapped his hands gently over Zora's. "I will do all in my power to save the child. But I would ask one thing of you."

"Anything." Zora stated without hesitation. "I can't lose her. She's all I have left."

"You must come with us, the child may be distrustful of people she does not know and your presence may be needed to bring her back to the light."

In the background unnoticed by anyone, Father Ammon smirked.

End Chapter

**Chapter 6**

Zoe blinked her eyes tiredly and sat up slowly from the cold wooden floor she had been lying on, there was something tickling the edge of her mind, something that caused her to wake. The almost teenager yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes as she tried to figure out where she was. The room was unfamiliar to her, a small square room that was darkened aside from a few thin beams of sunlight coming through the small gaps between the pile of metal filing cabinets that had been stacked up and blocked the single window.

"Oh yeah!" Zoe snapped her fingers as her brain finally kicked back into gear. They were outside at last! Seras had finally helped her get out of the Acropolis and now they were on their way to recover Seras' coffin so she could get better.

Zoe glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she saw Seras. The vampire was laid on her back, arms crossed gently over her chest and hands held protectively over her heart. Where Seras was sleeping was well hidden from any light that may have passed between any gaps in between the cabinets by a large overturned desk.

After climbing the ravine Seras had carried Zoe on her back as she ran really fast to find someplace to sleep before the sun rose. As far as Zoe was concerned that was awesome, the speed Seras could maintain and the way she would leap over cars and other obstacles was really fun and Zoe found herself not for the first time envious of Seras' abilities.

But like everything had to eventually, that came to an end when Seras spotted the sky beginning to lighten in the east. Soon they had found this old office block and a suitable room that they could sleep in for the day.

Her curiosity getting the better of her Zoe crawled over to where Seras lay, sat back on her knees and watched the sleeping vampire. Zoe was fascinated at the utter stillness of Seras, to all intents and purposes just a cold dead corpse at this moment.

"_Zoe, try to sleep the entire day if you can." Seras said while lifting the last cabinet onto the pile with what appeared no effort._

"_Why?" Zoe asked the vampire as she walked over._

"_The way I am at the moment I'm going to sleep extremely deeply." Seras told Zoe seriously looking down so she could look the girl in the eyes. "And I mean deeply, to all intents and purposes I'll appear totally dead. I need to rest as long as possible to conserve what power I have left so it'll take something drastic to wake me."_

Zoe's curiosity grew while watching the unmoving Seras and the girl carefully reached a hand out to touch Seras' shoulder and then quickly withdrew it. Seras did not react and Zoe cocked her head slightly before reaching out once again and this time placed her hand completely against Seras' shoulder.

"Seras?" Zoe asked gently rocking the vampire who remained unmoving.

Zoe grinned as she grew more confident and moved her hand off Seras' shoulder to lightly poke the vampire in the cheek.

"Seeeeerrraaaaas." Zoe sing-songed and still did not get a reaction. Zoe giggled as she poked Seras' cheek once again before reaching out to pull the vampire's top lip up and revealing Seras' fangs.

"Cool." Zoe breathed examining the large canines enraptured by the sight.

A sudden flash of movement from the corner of her eyes made Zoe jump in fright. Releasing Seras' top lip in surprise she quickly turned towards the movement her heart suddenly pounding in her ears. Zoe had the impression of something tall and red flashing past the frosted glass window in the door to the room they were in.

Zoe remained frozen as she listened to what sounded like booted footsteps slowly walking away.

"Seras!" Zoe hissed urgently towards the sleeping vampire but there still was no reaction. That was when she heard it. A faint chuckling from down the corridor that slowly faded along with the footsteps.

_Someone's laughing?_ Zoe thought in surprise and climbed to her feet knowing that it could not have been a zombie as there were only two she knew that could chuckle. The young girl approached the door as silently as she could and turned the handle carefully trying not to make a sound.

Zoe peered through the small gap as she opened the door slowly. The corridor beyond was dark and dingy, the carpet covered in dirt from years of neglect. Zoe could not make much out through the gap so she pulled the door open wider and stuck her head out and looked in the direction the noise had went and caught sight of a shadow disappearing round the corner at the far end.

Zoe took a glance back at Seras before stepping out into the corridor. She would have a quick look. Just to see who it was then get back to Seras.

Zoe began sneaking down the corridor careful not to step on anything that would make a loud noise. She carefully pressed herself against the wall as she approached the corner and poked her head around slowly to see that there was nothing there.

Frowning deeply Zoe stepped out wondering if she had been seeing and hearing things when she heard a deep tortured groaning noise. The girl froze before turning stiffly and slowly around to face back down the way she had came and felt the blood drain from her face.

The corridor she had just walked down was filled from wall to wall with the horrific visage of shambling corpses, their eyes missing and blood pouring from the sockets, noses and mouths as the horde clumsily advanced towards her hands clawing at the air as they tried to reach her.

Zoe's eyes widened as she wondered where the zombies had come from even as she began backing away until she bumped up against the wall.

"Seras..." Zoe whispered hoping to see her vampiric protector suddenly appear and rescue her.

The horde kept approaching, one stumbled and fell down only to be replaced by another behind it and disappeared under the marching horde's feet as it was trodden messily into the dirty carpet.

Remembering Seras' words Zoe had the sinking feeling that Seras was going to be unable to help her this time and the girl turned and fled around the corner and down the corridor with the zombies following. Zoe risked a glance over her shoulder and saw the horde was making their way around the corner already. A feeling that there was something off with these zombies kept bouncing around at the rear of Zoe's mind as she watched them advancing.

Zoe's forward progress was brutally halted as she ran forcefully into a shut wooden door and was flung backwards onto the floor the breath knocked out of her. The girl gasped in pain as she rolled over on the floor coming to rest facing the undead approaching her. Zoe pushed herself up forcing her body to move as quickly as she could and grabbed hold of the door's handle and yanked it down.

The door swung inwards and Zoe was dragged with it, head first into the room beyond. She tumbled down a short flight of stairs and hit the ground in a roll. Zoe felt her hands scrape across the uneven stone floor making them sting from the damage received.

"Ow!" Zoe hissed as she raised herself to her knees to see she was inside a darkened room. As she raised her eyes so she could look behind for the zombies Zoe gasped at the sight before her. There appeared to be a tall man crouched before her, his back turned towards her. His entire body was covered in a tight black leather suit not unlike a straightjacket, his long dark hair spilling forwards. As Zoe stared in fear and wondering who he was she heard what sounded like someone enjoying a meal with a little too much gusto.

The noise of the zombies groaning behind Zoe caused the man to seemingly pause in his feeding and his head turned ever so slightly to look over his shoulder. When their eyes met Zoe felt a jolt and she was certain the man was grinning as he watched her carefully. Zoe stared transfixed even as the sounds of undead moans drew ever closer

The man stood and turned towards Zoe smoothly, his height dwarfing the kneeling girl and his features became hidden in the darkness as Zoe's eyes were drawn toward what the man held in one hand presented towards her.

Zoe felt her heart stop as she realised he was holding Seras' severed head, her last expression one of shock frozen on her features. Zoe's horror turned to numb despair as she realised she was not going to escape this even as the first of the zombies fingers touched her. The man before her raised Seras' head slowly and Zoe's eyes tracked its path, watching as he held his grisly trophy above his head.

He opened his mouth and his tongue snaked out, far too long to be that of a human and he allowed the blood that dripped from Seras' torn neck land on it. That did it, Zoe suddenly saw red. How dare he do this to Seras! If she was going to die here she would at least try and hurt this thing before her.

Zoe did not know what she screamed as she burst to her feet, pulling her arms free from the groping hands. The girl charged towards the man whose face split into a massive grin as Zoe leapt at him determined to try and claw his face off. The young girl hit him with as much force as she could manage and was shocked when she found herself suddenly spinning and slammed against a cold stone wall.

The man's crazed grinning face appeared right before Zoe's as he slammed his white gloved hands to either side of her head. Zoe reacted instantly by slashing out at his face with her fingernails which left four shallow scratches.

"Fantastic!" The man laughed insanely ignoring the girl's attack completely. "I see why she chose you now...Zoe Elgin!"

"I'll kill you!" Zoe growled to which the man began chuckling darkly. His chuckling soon began to slowly morph into full blown crazed evil laughter.

"Whatever for?" the man grinned revealing a mouth full shark-like teeth.

"You killed Seras!"

"Yes I did...nearly fifty years ago."

Zoe started to shout something and paused in surprise as the man before her and the world seemed to melt away and soon she found herself standing in the room she and Seras had been sleeping in again, complete with a whole Seras lying on the ground exactly where she had been left.

"Wha?" Zoe blinked turning around not knowing what was going on.

"Here I was growing bored and weary in this dying world when I decided I would check up on one of my childe." The man's powerful voice stated from across the room causing Zoe to spin to face him. He was now lounging in an old chair and had changed his clothes. He now wore what appeared to be a charcoal coloured Victorian gentleman's suit with an intricately knotted red bowtie. He had his leather hunting booted feet crossed and lazily resting on the table leg above Seras' head. "How excited I was to find she had discovered opponents of great power!"

"You're a vampire." Zoe stated noting his eyes were a deep blood red, looking exactly like Seras' did sometimes. "Like Seras."

"Technically...she's a vampire like me." He grinned.

"Whatever." Zoe stated to which he chuckled again. "Who are you Mr. Vampire?"

"I have many names littlegirl." He stated causing Zoe to bristle at his tone while he rested his chin on the back of his gloved right hand. "Although I have been known as Alucard for a long time now."

"Why did you do that to me?" Zoe demanded angrily.

"A test." Alucard smirked. "I needed to know if you were worthy of her."

"And am I?"

"You're still alive...for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoe growled pointing at the cocky vampire.

"There are at least two groups of people, probably more plotting to destroy Seras Victoria at this moment." Alucard said lifting his legs off the table and placing them on the ground. He lent forward to get a closer look at Zoe and placed his hands on his knees. "The battles that are soon to take place! The blood will stain the earth red! Glorious!" Zoe grimaced as Alucard once again launched into an insane bout of laugher.

"Are you going to help us?" Zoe asked once Alucard had calmed down.

"Heheh...I already have."

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked confused.

"We would not be able to talk like this if I had not allowed the bond between you two to become official." Alucard stated climbing out of the chair, his lanky frame towering above Zoe.

"Huh? What bond?"

"The bond between a master and her servant." Alucard grinned down at Zoe. "The pair of you took part in a blood ritual older than even I. You took some of her blood and allowed her some of your own back sealing your bonds."

"What?" Zoe gasped. "When?"

"In the lift shaft," Alucard chuckled again and Zoe's eyes widened in realisation. "I gently prodded you in the right direction. When the time is right you will tell these words to Seras Victoria. The fiend in red plots your doom. Now it is time for you to forget this meeting and awaken."

"What is that suppose...?" Zoe blinked realising Alucard was dressed in red and at her expression his grin widened.

"I look forward to seeing your true power Zoe Elgin." Alucard then faded slowly from sight.

------------

The young looking but white-haired priest walked slowly across the Acropolis yard, deep in thought. Here they were, plotting on how to defeat and destroy the vampire hiding amongst these people when their supposed holy-man had approached him asking for help with dealing with the very vampire they wanted destroyed.

Priest pondered this. His first meeting with Father Ammon had been strained. The good 'Father' seemed uninformed of protocol and procedure even going as far as to claim Priest had no clue about god. Priest had labelled him a heretic and possibly a fake and proceeded to prod and poke at the man's pathetic knowledge of the Bible. He had succeeded in winding the old man up something rotten and they had both developed a distaste for each other.

That was why he had been caught unawares when Father Ammon had walked right up to him and asked to speak privately about a matter of great importance. His first thoughts of Father Ammon being a fake seemed removed when the old man had asked for help with the vampiric infection they had as he was too old and infirm to fight such a creature. Priest had been very surprised when the old man went on to list all the signs that a vampire was amongst the people.

The old man then led him right to the room were the vampire had been staying. Priest instantly recognised the presence of the monster that had seeped into and infected the room. The vampire had the room setup in such a way people would just ignore it and if any did enter a feeling of fear and wrongness would chase them out. Priest knew they had to exorcise the room once they got back.

It was odd though how the Lieutenant and the others had seemed surprised when Father Ammon showed up, almost like they had not told him about the vampire, which they still believed a normal person leaving the base and taking a child with it leaving the child's mother frantic. How did he know?

Priest's thoughts drifted to Seras Victoria who he had hunted nigh on forty years and felt a burning hatred develop towards the vampire. Many things he could forgive it but to take a child most probably as a virgin style packed lunch to sate its hunger made him swear to destroy her.

As he approached his followers a small group stood up and looked towards him enquiringly.

"Get everyone ready to leave within an hour." Priest told them. There was a buzz of confusion and an exchange of glances.

"Are we being kicked out?" Alistair asked, his blue hair easily seen above the heads of the others.

"No." Priest stated turning to them. "The vampire has fled and we will be chasing it immediately before the trail goes cold."

"Is this good or bad?" someone else asked.

"Neither and both." Priest sighed. "The vampire is on the run, which is good as it'll make destroying it easier without the people here getting in the way. Also this gives me more time to bless our weaponry. It's bad because the vampire has taken a young child with it!"

There were gasps and head's shaken and a general agreement that this was an evil to be stopped.

"The child's mother will be coming with us, a Dr. Elgin. She does not know what we are facing yet so allow me to slowly make her see the truth. The child may be dead already and we have no way of telling what the monster is doing with her. For all we know, it may be leading us into a trap. But we must march onwards and let the will of God be done! Now move we don't have much time."

------------

Zoe blinked her eyes tiredly and sat up slowly from the cold wooden floor she had been lying on, a strange sense of déjà vu filled her as she yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes as she tried to figure out where she was. The room was unfamiliar to her, a small square room that was darkened aside from a few thin beams of sunlight coming through the small gaps between the pile of metal filing cabinets that had been stacked up and blocked the single window.

"Oh yeah." Zoe stated remembering the previous night and the young girl climbed to her feet and stretched trying to work out the tightness in her shoulders. Zoe mentally grumbled about sleeping on cold floors as she glanced around. Everything was as they had left it before sleeping, the cabinets still piled up. The desk overturned with Seras sleeping like, well like the dead.

A large gurgling grumble startled Zoe and she blushed in embarrassment and realised she was hungry. Zoe also became aware of the pressure on her bladder and looked around the room. The young Elgin decided she would have to find a toilet and wandered over to the office door.

Zoe turned the handle, pulled the door open and stepped out quietly into the corridor. As she looked up and down she had a distinct feeling that she had been chased down this corridor by zombies at some point in the past but could not remember why. Scratching her head curiously Zoe set off in a random direction hoping to find the bathrooms.

After five minutes of wandering down similar looking, mouldy smelling and dingy corridors Zoe finally spotted a sign hanging loosely from a wall. It may have said men on it but the girl was pretty sure no one had visited this place for a long time.

Zoe paused just outside the door realising it swung inwards and placed an ear carefully against to old wood listening for any signs of movement remembering old lessons.

"_If you ever find yourself hiding inside a building what should you watch out for?" Professor Tallman asked the class._

"_Closed doors!" a girl in the front row with pink hair in pigtails exclaimed._

"_Correct." The Professor smiled and looked at Zoe. "And why do we need to do this Zoe?"_

"_Because zombies could be behind them." Zoe sighed long bored with repeating the same lessons. "__**Most**_ _zombies are not smart enough to open doors. They just keep bumping into them uselessly."_

Zoe heard nothing so she slowly pushed the door open. Beyond it was a very short corridor that finished with a second door at the far end. This door hung halfway off its hinges allowing passage into the toilets.

Zoe squeezed between the gap she had opened and shut the door silently before walking down to the hanging door. The girl wrinkled her nose at the smell; it was a disgusting mix of damp, putrid standing water and decay.

Glancing around the room Zoe realised the smell could have been worse if not for the three thin rectangular frosted windows being slightly ajar. Dirty beams of sunlight filtered in through the mucky windows and did light the bathroom up enough to see. Zoe carefully climbed past the hanging door and into the bathroom, her booted feet making a bit of noise on the dirty tiles that at one time must have been white but were now a dirty brown stained colour.

Along the wall closest to the entrance she had just entered by was lined with large ceramic sinks, again these sinks were covered with grime. Above the sinks was a large dust covered mirror. Down the back wall were the stalls, most had doors that were open. The light faded out towards the furthest away stalls and Zoe could not see if anything was in them but did not want to go check. The quicker she got out of here the sooner she could start breathing again.

Zoe picked the first stall and quickly wandered over all the time holding her vest over her nose in an attempt to lessen the smell. The girl entered the stall and stared disgusted into the toilet and the almost black water. The dirty seat cover almost made her decide to find another but the pressure was getting urgent now. Zoe checked the paper roll holder and was pleased the toilet paper still on the holder was kept relatively clean.

Pulling a load of paper free Zoe folded it carefully up and placed it around the seat before shutting the stall door and relieving herself. After that was done Zoe pushed the button on top to flush the toilet by force of habit. Surprisingly there actually was water still in the system and the roar of the toilet flushing in the silent room was surprisingly loud.

As the last of the noise trailed off Zoe felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was now another sound in the room, a low wheezing followed by a wet thump. Zoe felt her throat constrict in worry and turned to open the stall door. She looked down the room and saw a shape moving around in the back.

"Oh crap!" Zoe exclaimed and slapped her hands over her mouth. It was too late though; the shape paused and seemed to look her way. There was a curious almost sniffing noise before it began stumbling towards her quicker than Zoe had expected.

Zoe panicked and slammed the door which was the worst thing she could do as the zombie now definitely had a sound to home in on, even if it could not smell her due to her vest. She fumbled with the locking mechanism until it locked and climbed up onto the toilet after knocking the lid down.

As Zoe huddled to the back of the stall a pair of once expensive shoes, now just a dirty mess appeared under the stall door followed by a blow which caused the girl to flinch. The blows began increasing in speed and strength. All the while the door was being battered Zoe was looking around frantically for a way out of this situation.

With a particularly vicious blow Zoe saw the screws in the locking mechanism beginning to give. A wheezing groan came again and another blow was followed by the sound of wood splintering as the lock was half pulled off. Zoe knew the next blow would break the lock and she braced herself.

The door was hit once more and the lock torn off as the stall door slammed open and the zombie stumbled in. Zoe lashed out with her booted foot hoping against hope she could knock the zombie either back or its head off. The idea was good but her timing needed work and instead of causing any real damage her boot barely clipped the zombie's shoulder which threw her off balance.

The zombie was still dressed in a once expensive suit that now hung off its emaciated frame covered in greasy stains. Its skinless, eyeless head was practically just bone and gristle Zoe saw as it opened its mouth in a silent roar and grabbed towards her.

Zoe tried to avoid the clumsy grab but its skeletal hands managed to claw her shoulder and gripped hard. Its other hand caught Zoe's head and she was roughly pushed back against the wall, slamming her head and making stars flash before her eyes. When her vision recovered she wished it had not as she was staring down the throat of the zombie, its putrid breath worse than the smell of decay.

Zoe kicked out again desperately trying to dislodge the dead guy. Her foot caught his stomach and there was a wet sound followed by further wet splashes as the zombie's inside poured out of it with a belch of disgusting noise and smell. Zoe gagged with the overpowering stench and was suddenly glad she had not eaten.

The zombie leaned closer and Zoe's only thought was that Seras would be pissed at her for dying.

------------

Seras' eyes snapped open glowing red.

Something was wrong.

She did know what it was but it had something to do with Zoe, her master. Around the lying vampire a red pentagram complete with occult symbols appeared and flared red briefly before Seras slowly sank into the ground.

------------

Zoe git her teeth and reached out with her hands and caught the descending zombie skull in an attempt to hold it back, her thumbs went into the empty eye sockets meeting cold and slimy substances. The girl was surprised when it worked and she was just managing to hold the zombie back. This was now a standoff between Zoe and the very decayed zombie, it tried to lean closer while Zoe attempted to hold it away. Because of how little muscle tissue the zombie still possessed Zoe was able to hold her ground, but unlike the zombie she did not had infinite supplies of energy and began to feel the muscles in her arms burning from the exertion.

So focused on holding the zombie away from her, Zoe did not see the floor behind them light up with the same occult symbolism that had just been under Seras. The vampire slowly rose out of the ground and looked pissed, her eyes glowing.

Seras felt the dirty beam of sunlight she had appear in burn but she ignored the sensation and reached forward to grab the zombie's skull with one hand, her fingers finding the eye sockets which she gripped like a bowling ball.

"Die!" Seras roared lifting the zombie cleanly away from Zoe and spinning to charge towards the wall behind her dragging the zombie like a gory kite. Zoe fell to the ground at the sudden removal of the zombie and watched in surprise as Seras slammed its decayed skull into the wall with a sickening crunch which sent a black ooze splashing up the wall.

Seras was in full on raving lunatic vampire mode and began crushing the remains of the skull with both hands until there was nothing but ooze left. The vampire then began stamping on the remains while laughing manically much to Zoe's shock mostly due to the steam or was it smoke rising from Seras' shoulders.

Zoe climbed to her feet slowly and approached Seras cautiously as the vampire was now on her hands and knees thumping the remaining mush that was once a zombie. Seras' face was covered in dots of some black substance and she was grinning like a maniac.

"Seras?" Zoe asked which seemed to bring the vampire out of the strange trance she had been in.

"Master?" Seras blinked wondering exactly was she was doing and how she had gotten here. All she remembered was a feeling that Zoe was in danger and then this. "What...happened?"

"You saved me!" Zoe cried out and hugged Seras before bursting into to tears at how close she had came to being zombie food. Seras wrapped her arms around the shaken girl wondering what the hell was going on. They stayed that way for five minutes until Zoe finally regained her composure.

"You feeling any better?" Seras finally asked

"Yeah." Zoe said in quiet voice and sniffed.

"Come on." Seras stated climbing to her feet and helping Zoe to hers. "Let's get out of here and you can tell me what happened."

Seras led the girl back towards the room they had been sleeping in and listened as Zoe described what had occurred. Seras was thankful that the corridors were windowless and the sunlight from outside could not reach her; she already had the tight burnt feeling from that short exposure in the toilets.

"Okay, next time Master just use a corner or something." Seras smirked as they entered the room.

"Pft!" Zoe sighed. "That's easy for you to say, you don't need to."

"Exactly," Seras grinned. "_All_ biological functions have ceased."

That was when Zoe's stomach grumbled again and Seras chuckled.

"Don't laugh!" Zoe demanded. "It's not my fault something smells nice and it's making me hungrier."

"Hmm?" Seras sniffed curious at what Zoe meant. All she could smell was the room, Zoe and herself complete with cooked skin from the sunlight...

"Oh bugger! I smell like a roast beef dinner!" Seras stated in annoyance.

"That's you?" Zoe asked before bursting in laughter at Seras' expression. "You smell yummy!"

"Ha. Ha. Laugh it up." Seras stated trying to keep her expression straight. It was quite funny if she thought about it. "Well if you're hungry eat something."

Zoe's face paled slightly and she looked hopefully at Seras. "Did you bring any food?"

"Huh? No why would I?" Seras replied and gave Zoe the look. "You _did_ pack something to eat and drink in that backpack of yours right?_Right_?"

Zoe's guilty and worried expression told Seras all she needed to know.

"Oh bloody 'ell!" Seras stated slapping a hand to her forehead.

**Chapter 7**

The grey wardrobe doors were yanked open in a hurry, spilling the light from the room inside. Zora barely missed a beat as she began shifting the various clothes hanging on hangers aside in her search for something warm to wear. Pulling a few jumpers out she quickly settled on a thick woolly dark green turtleneck sweater, the others were discarded into a pile on the floor.

The purple haired woman then pulled out a pair of slightly worn jeans and grabbed a light brown pair of outdoor boots off of the wardrobe floor. Zora did not bother shutting the doors as she would usually do once done; she was in too much of a hurry.

Zora tossed the clothes onto her bed and was quickly out of her uniform and pulling on the collected clothing from the wardrobe. Soon the slight woman was sitting on her bed pulling on her boots and then fastening the laces, a determined look on her face.

Zoe was out there in the cold zones, surrounded by God only knew how many undead monsters...somewhere alone with Seras…

At the thought of Seras, Zora felt a spike of betray run through her. She had trusted Seras. How could Seras have done this to her? They were…had been friends or so Zora thought darkly pausing in her lacing.

All this time Seras had pretended to be a friend, when in reality had been using her position on the medical team to access their stores so she could take blood from right under their noses. Why had she been doing this and what she had done with the blood Zora could only guess and none of them were comforting.

Perhaps she thought she was a witch or something and used the blood in insane summoning rituals. Or maybe Zoe's continued belief that Seras was a vampire had some basis in reality. Seras could have really been drinking the blood.

The thought sent a shudder down Zora's spine and a sickly feeling in her stomach at the thought of blood drinking. If Seras was that deluded to believe she was some kind of undead blood drinking monster and Zora had already discarded that a delusion, who knew what she could do left alone with Zoe.

A vampire! It was crazy. Zombies she could believe in, they knew what caused the zombies. They had good scientific evidence as to how the virus reanimated dead bodies. But a vampire? The only evidence Zora had ever read pointed to vampirism as being a deluded state of mind, mostly associated with murderers who would drink the blood of their victims.

If Seras was like that...

Zora grit her teeth in grim determination. She had to find Zoe and quickly...and if Seras did get in her way then the younger woman would regret it.

She finished tying her boot laces up before grabbing the ionic scent cancelling vest lying next to her on the bed. Zora slid her arms through the arm holes while standing up and then fastened the vest's zipper that ran up the front. A quick check of the electrics showed everything was in working order and Zora activated the vest. It had barely finished booting up before Zora was leaving the room, not even bothering to close or lock the door.

Zora almost stormed down the corridors on her way towards the main yards, causing startled glances and knowing whispers to follow in her wake. She paid no attention to the surprise on people's faces. Last time she had thought she had lost Zoe she had been a wreck and people knew that so to see the normally gentle woman looking ready to kill someone was quite disturbing. Unlike last time though she had someone she could blame.

"Zora!"

Zora paused and glanced back at the sound of Soren's voice. The Lieutenant was jogging to catch up with her.

"You can't stop me going Soren." Zora said with conviction as Soren caught her up. "Zoe's out there somewhere."

"I know." Soren stated falling in beside her neglecting to mention which he was replying to. Zora glanced to her left and up at Soren as he walked beside her and waited for him to continue.

"I understand how you feel..."

"Do you?" Zora scoffed.

"Okay, maybe I don't know exactly." Soren relented easily. "But I can see how worried you are about Zoe. I still think leaving with them, especially with _him_ is a bad idea."

"What choice do I have? You said it yourself. We don't have the man power for another team." Zora stated. "I can't wait for Blue team to return. Anything could happen out there!"

"Exactly." Soren agreed. "Anything could happen. You're too important to lose Zora. As one of the few trained medical staff we need you to stay here."

"I'm not a trained medical doctor Soren. I was a geneticist. There're others here that know more than me."

"Only Professor Tallman. Then there's the few staff you've trained and a few guards who know basic first aid." Soren looked down at Zora as they walked. "We're already one skilled nurse down."

"Seras." Zora growled.

"Seras." Soren agreed with a sigh. "God, what the hell was she doing?"

"I'll ask her when I find her." Zora stated threateningly.

Soren eyed Zora carefully, surprised at her tone before sighing in defeat. "I can't stop you can I?"

"No." Zora agreed. "Not unless you're going to place me under lockdown."

"I thought as much." Soren looked up at the ceiling regretfully. "And that is why I'm doing this."

Zora felt a jolt of shock run through her at Soren's words. Would he really place her into lockdown to prevent her leaving?

"You can't!" She shouted and blinked as Soren shoved something into hands. "Huh?"

Zora looked down at the bundle Soren had just given her. It was a backpack and it felt pretty full.

"Supplies. Food, water and a small amount of medical stuffs." Soren told the stunned Zora. "Also a GPS device and a long distance radio so you can stay in contact with us. I don't trust Priest as far as I can throw him. Once Blue Team get back I can send a group to help you, you'll need the GPS to let us know your position."

"I..." Zora stated slowly staring at the backpack. "Thank you."

"One last thing," Soren stated holding out another item to Zora. "Take this."

"A gun?" Zora recognised the shape that was in the holster that Soren was holding out for her. "You know I'm not a good shot. I won't even be able to hit a still zombie, let alone a moving one in the head."

"It's not for zombies." Soren stated darkly. "If the worst comes to the worst...one shot and it's all over. Quickly."

"Oh..." Zora gulped in realisation.

"I hope it won't come to that. I hope you find her and get back here without complications." Soren told her as Zora placed the backpack gently on the ground and took the gun slowly from him. She turned the firearm over once, examining it distastefully before using the straps on the holster to fasten it tightly to her right thigh. Like most people in the Acropolis she did know how to fire a gun from the basic training they had been given.

"I hope so too." Zora agreed picking the backpack off the floor and holding it by the straps. The pair set off again, this time at a more leisurely pace.

"Before you go I need to tell you this." Soren spoke after a few steps. "It's about Seras."

Zora glanced at Soren curiously. "What about her?"

"While you were talking with Priest, me and Tallman had a look over her records." Soren sounded worried or maybe disturbed.

"And?"

"We barely have any," The Lieutenant said. "And non older than six years. It's like she just suddenly appeared six years ago…which is incidentally…"

"When Zoe crossed all that distance in one night." Zora finished.

"Exactly." Soren agreed. "It gets weirder though. The records we do have are extremely basic, name, sex and nothing else. No age. No date of birth. No blood type."

"That's impossible!" Zora exclaimed shocked. "I did a full physical on her. I entered everything into the computer!"

"Yeah, and unless she is some kind of super hacker the files have not been touched since."

"But…I really did enter everything." Zora said frowning.

"I believe you." Soren stated before stopping and tuning to face Zora. "Think carefully about this. How old did she say she was?"

"She's…" Zora's face scrunched up as she began racking her brains for how old Seras was. She could not actually remember, yet she was sure Seras had told her during the physical. "I…don't know?"

"Hmmm." Soren scratched his beard thoughtfully. "You're the same way too."

"What way?"

"Both the Professor and myself can't remember if she was here before six years ago, yet we both feel as if she was. It's like you know something's wrong but you can't place your finger on what. Tallman is thinking…and this is almost crazy but…some kind of group hypnotism."

Zora's eyes widened at the implications and even though it sounded outlandish, it did make a weird kind of sense.

"This next bit of information is more worrying." Soren continued. "Seras' communicator is still reading life signs."

"H…how?"

"Not only that but we checked the logs for her communicator. Exactly the same signs for an entire week and nobody's life signs stay the same for that length of time. Christ, they hardly stay constant for an hour! It looks like it's been hacked to read the same constantly." Soren looked Zora in the eyes. He looked worried. "Our seemingly tampered with memories. The missing blood. The communicator being hacked. I'm almost beginning to believe Zoe's stories."

"It's…impossible…" Zora muttered until Soren gentle gripped her shoulders.

"Be careful Zora. If Seras won't cooperate or attacks or something, cap her one and get the hell out of there." Soren stated grimly. "If she really is…she could be capable of anything."

------------

"I'm hungry!" Zoe whined while she sat on one of the cabinets and stared out the grimy window. Seras had dragged one of the cabinets off so Zoe could look out and she could keep an eye on the amount of sunlight coming in.

"I know Master." Seras sighed as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in, her fingers interlaced and booted feet resting lightly on one of the cabinets. The vampire was sat well to one side and out of the reach of the sun. "But I can't go out there to look for food for you."

"I could go!" Zoe exclaimed excited. "Find something to eat and come back!"

"Too dangerous Master." Seras stated with her eyes closed. "If you get into trouble I can't help you. Anyway, edible food might be miles away."

"Bugger." Zoe sighed resting her chin in one palm and glaring out the window once again. Zoe watched the quiet and empty street just outside and tried to imagine what it must have been like once. People of every walk of life walking up and down the street along with all sorts of cars passing by. Maybe even children running and playing without any fear of the undead. To Zoe the only time she had seen anything like that had been on old films that she had seen, and even they seemed alien to the young girl who had grown up with the world in this dying condition.

"I'm bored."

"Go to sleep then." Seras stated not opening her eyes or moving. "The day passes quicker that way."

"I'm too hungry to sleep."

"I'm hungry too." Seras stated cracking one eye open to look at Zoe.

"Well I haven't had anything to eat since last night." Zoe complained.

"Well I haven't had anything to eat for the last month." Seras stated evilly while sending a crimson eyed look the girl's way. Seras knew she should not try to scare Zoe this way but her constant complaining about food was even starting to wear on Seras' nerves and besides she was as bored as Zoe was.

Zoe gulped and paled slightly at the way Seras eyed her hungrily. "Err...I think I'll try to sleep after all."

"Yes Master." Seras grinned.

------------

It was approaching midday as three figures were seen sprinting along one of the Highways that led north from the Acropolis, moving at a constant pace that would wind a professional Marathon runner.

Well, two of them were sprinting, the large zombie known as Dirge and just behind him was Nephthys. Both carried their chosen weapons strapped to their backs, Dirge with his shovel and Nephthys with her six-foot scythe. The third was the wolf-like undead former police dog known now as Cerberus. Cerberus loped ahead of them and occasionally would sniff the ground as they tracked the only scent available to them. That of Seras.

Nephthys kept a careful eye on the sky above them as it was starting to gain a fair amount of cloud cover. The day that had dawned with the promise of bright sunlight seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, becoming more overcast and grim as they gained on the vampire.

Which was ironically how Dirge seemed to be getting, the further they travelled the grimmer he seemed to get. Nephthys was, well not quite worried for the large zombie but it was not like Dirge to be so quiet. Even when she tried to strike up a conversation Dirge had just answered in grunts and none of his usual sarcasm. Now that was not like Dirge at all.

The exotic Egyptian zombie guessed that Dirge was upset at Seras not letting them know she was still walking in the land of the living. He had seemed more upset over that than the vampire taking the child back out into the cold zones. Well she would try one more time to talk with him.

"Dirge, the sky is threatening rain." Nephthys stated pulling up beside him. "We must discover their place of rest soon else we may lose their tracks."

Dirge merely gave a non-committal grunt and glanced up at the sky as if seeing it for the first time that day.

"Dammit! Just how far and fast can she run?" Dirge rumbled glaring at the clouds as if to dare them to gather.

"It would appear," Nephthys stated calmly before vaulting over an abandon car like an acrobat in a display of incredible grace and athleticism that was in her way. She landed lightly, not missing a step and kept pace with Dirge as if nothing had just happened. Even more impressive was she did that in high heels. "That the vampire is not bound to the limitations of the human body. Unlike ourselves."

"You don't say." Dirge mumbled remembering some of Seras' abilities, shape-shifting, super strength, able to heal massive amount of physical trauma and who knew what else.

"Although we have no need to breathe and are able to keep this pace practically forever, we are still limited to a human's top speed."

"You don't need to tell me that." Dirge stated as his eyes rotated in their sockets to rest on the zombie beside him.

"True." Nephthys agreed. "But your silence was killing me."

Dirge blinked. Did Nephthys just crack a joke?

"Was that a joke Queen Tut?" Dirge asked some of his humour returning. Nephthys' mouth twitched faintly at the corner forming a faint smile.

"Maybe." Nephthys drawled.

"Great. Now I know the world is about to end."

"At least you're talking again. I was almost afraid your brain had completely turned to mush." Nephthys grinned before turning serious once again. "What will you do when we find them?"

"I dunno." Dirge stated. "Beat her round the head with Faust a few times? Find out what the hell they're doing out and then beat her a few more times."

"Hmmm. Good plan." Nephthys stated sarcastically before changing the subject. "If I had known our little girl was wearing one of those scent jamming vests I would have brought Chimera with us."

"Oh hell no." Dirge groaned thinking about that damned zombiesaur. "You know that lizard and me don't get along. I still can't believe humans were stupid enough to rebuild the damned thing with cybernetics when it woke up."

"That's humans for you Dirge. Thousand were dying as Nekrosis created zombies across the entire globe and they still continued to play with things best left alone." Nephthys stated while pondering why people would want to do such ill-advised things. "It's been about six years since we last saw the child, she has grown."

"I don't care how big she's gotten." Dirge stated turning his eyes forward towards the city in the distance. "She's still trouble."

Above them there was rumble as if the sky was agreeing.

------------

Zora gave one finally glance behind her to watch as the few people who had came to see her off disappeared from sight as the main gates sealed.

"This way Dr. Elgin." Priest stated quietly from beside her. "We must make haste if we wish to catch up with them."

"Right." Zora agreed turning back to Priest who sent her a comforting smile.

"Do not worry too much. We will rescue your daughter." Priest comforted her as they walked across the narrow bridge. "We have God on our side."

"I hope so." Zora sighed.

"Do you believe in God?" Priest asked.

"I...don't know. With the way the world is..."

"These are just trials sent to test our faith. Hold onto your beliefs and everything will turn out alright in the end Dr. Elgin." Priest smiled calmly while looking up at the sky. "Even if you don't believe in him he believes in you."

"Father Ammon says similar things." Zora stated absently. "He managed to hold us all together in the early days with such words. I guess it helps if we all believe in something right?"

"It seems Father Ammon is wiser than I first thought. Remind me to apologise to him next time we meet." Priest stated a hint of respect entering his voice as they crossed the final distance to the massive truck that waited for them.

Zora took in the sight of what was going to be her home for the next few days. It really was even larger close up than if looked from a distance. The train-like armour plated truck must have over forty wheels altogether, and each set were carefully protected by metal sheeting that had been welded over them. At the front of the truck was a very large wedge plough-blade. Protruding from various positions along the truck's body were guns of random size and calibre. Some would not look out of place on a tank.

Zora read some of the words that had been painted onto the trucks armour. Jesus Christ is in Heaven and other similar messages and even a few passages from the bible.

"You'll have to forgive the awkward way of getting inside." Priest stated as a rope ladder was tossed down to them. Priest caught it easily and held it steady. "Safer to get in through the top as the undead are not known for their climbing abilities or intelligence. After you Doctor."

Zora eyed the ladder uncertainly before grabbing a rung and beginning to climb up. At the top she was helped up by a face she actually recognised. He was a lot taller than she had last seen the boy, now a man.

"Long time no see Dr. Elgin." Alistair grinned while helping the short woman onto the roof.

"Alistair." Zora greeted examining the former Acropolis resident. He had grown very tall and she had to crane her neck to see his face. "You've really grown. Last time I saw you weren't much bigger than me."

"I guess." He grinned running his fingers through his hair. "Well Dr. Elgin. Welcome to the Ark!"

"The Ark?"

"I let them name our home as they see fit." Priest stated causing Zora to jump. She had not heard him get that close. "I find people work better if they're allowed to have a sense of humour."

"I...I guess so." Zora blinked as Priest walked over to what appeared to be an air-tight spherical door, complete with a large round metal locking wheel. "Let us get a move on."

Priest then stepped into the hole and dropped down inside the Ark. Zora followed Alistair as he led her over to the doorway. She peered over the edge and saw there actually was a ladder down. Zora ended up sitting on the edge until her feet touched the rungs. Alistair helped her steady herself before she climbed down.

Inside was dully lit by a string of light bulbs rigged up along the middle of the Ark. There was seating that must have been pulled from a subway car lining most of the walls, along with metal poles to steady yourself against and even a few hanging hand holds came from the ceiling. Zora noted the place was pretty warm. There were many faces watching her curiously and she began feeling self-conscious at all the attention.

"Let us set out on our mission from God to rescue the child!" Priest's voice called out causing Zora to glance up the Ark. Priest stood holding one of the metal poles. There was a chorus of agreement and a deep throbbing roar rumbled through the Ark. Zora glanced around as everything began shaking as the metal beast seemingly came to life.

With a clank and a squeal Alistair shut and locked the door. He then slid down the ladder quickly and gripped hold of a nearby pole.

"Hold onto something Dr. Elgin." Alistair grinned.

Zora took his advice as the Ark's engines revved up and it suddenly juddered then lurched forward. Zora was glad she was holding something fixed down as it became apparent the Ark was not going to be a smooth ride.

Zora jumped in surprise as a speaker above her head crackled to life. "To infinity and beyond!"

"My flock's humour again." Priest stated over the noise of the engines as he suddenly appeared right next to Zora once again. "They have a different set of humorous sayings rigged to go out every time we set off."

"Oh." Zora stated.

"Alistair will show you around." Priest stated. "I will head up front and direct us towards your daughter."

"How can you be sure which way to go?" Zora asked worried in case they went the wrong direction.

"If you listen carefully, God will tell you where your path leads. It is only up to you to listen." Priest stated leaving. He was not going to tell Zora he could track the vampire now he had been in its presence. He would slowly let her know what they were chasing. She would no doubt be sceptical and it would do no good to scare her.

_Soon Seras Victoria, you will tell me what I want to know. _Priest thought with a grin. _Where that thrice damned monster Alucard is hiding._

------------

Seras stood up and stepped closer to the window. For the last few minutes the light had faded even though it was only shortly after noon. A faint rumble of thunder was heard on the wind even as it start to pick up.

The vampire carefully placed her arm were the light had only been recently. She could tell she was in light but it did not burn, only an itchy uncomfortable feeling. Seras stepped the final distance and looked out the window.

The clouds above were an angry dark grey almost black. As Seras watched large drops of water began falling to the ground leaving dark wet patches on the formally dry ground. Soon the rain was pouring down and a flash of lightening was seen in the distance. The thunder followed shortly, almost hovering right above them.

"A bad sign." Seras stated observing the weather. "And yet strangely convenient. If this is set in we can set off again."

Seras glanced over at Zoe who was sleeping fitfully on the hard cabinets. Seras let out a sigh as Zoe shifted. The poor girl must be starving, but worse she had not had a drink for almost as long and Seras knew she needed to find the girl something drinkable soon.

How dumb had she been just leaving with Zoe and expecting the girl to have brought food and water with her? Seras gently brushed a few strands of hair out of Zoe's eyes.

"Don't worry Master. We'll find something soon."

_And what if you don't?_

"We will. I have to protect her!" Seras told herself even as she had her doubts.

_What if you don't find anything in time? Humans don't last long without nourishment._

"I...don't know." Seras sighed.

_You know there is something you can do about it. Something that would solve most of your problems easily._

Seras stared at Zoe uncomfortably while listening to her thoughts.

_Drain her. Take all her blood and embrace her, make her your childe. You could wander these lands as sire and childe. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it._

Seras' eyes widened and turned crimson at the thought of that. It sounded so very, very tempting and she found herself leaning closer to the sleeping girl. She bared her fangs in anticipation as her hunger returned fully.

_Go on. Zoe won't mind, in fact I bet she wants this as much as you!_

Seras' fangs lightly touched the skin of Zoe's neck and she could feel the heat and smell the young girl's perfect blood, protected from her only by that flimsy layer of skin. That was all she had to pierce with her incredibly sharp fangs.

_Do it! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!_

Seras' eyes went wide as her mental voice sounded so much like her former master used to when urging her on and the vampire pulled away from the girl with a supreme effort of willpower.

"No!" Seras growled fighting the urges. "I'm not a monster! I won't do that! I won't condemn her to this hunger unless she chooses it! Even Alucard gave me a choice!"

Seras clenched her teeth and glared out the window, her face a mask of self-loathing. The flash and rumble of thunder served to drown out the insane laughter she was convinced she heard. Seras hissed angrily. She had never come so close to giving in to her instincts as she had just then.

"Seras?" Zoe's voice called out sleepily snapping the vampire back to reality. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Seras stated looking away from Zoe guiltily. "Master."

Zoe watched the vampire closely. Something was wrong.

"Seras?"

"We can get moving now Master." Seras stated pointing at the rain outside. "The cloud cover looks set in and I can go outside."

"Really?" Zoe asked glancing out the window and frowning at the thought of going out in the pouring rain.

"Grab your bag and let's get moving." Seras growled walking over and opening the door violently, almost pulling it off its hinges. Seras frowned at it darkly before she let go of the handle and the door hung loosely.

Zoe stared at the door and then at Seras and gulped. Seras was angry about something. The young girl jumped down to the floor and grabbed her bag before she followed the vampire into the corridor not wanting to be on the receiving end of an angry vampire's wraith.

Seras was seething at herself. She knew she was scaring Zoe, she could smell the girl's worry and hint of fear but could not help herself. She had almost done something she would have regretted forever. Even Alucard did not force this on anyone.

Soon the pair stood at the buildings dilapidated entrance and looked out into the falling rain. Zoe looked unconvinced out at the rain. The girl then looked questionably up at Seras.

"Come on." Seras said stepping out from cover and was almost instantly soaked to the bone. Her hair was quickly plastered to her head. "Hurry up!"

Zoe flinched at Seras' tone but followed her order and stepped out into the rain. Soon she too was soaked by the large drops of viciously falling water. Seras crouched down allowing Zoe to climb onto her back. The girl was soon shivering from the cold water cascading down them splashing to the ground and joining the rest of the excess water as it flowed down the street.

Seras glanced around, looking for a sign or something that might indicate an old supermarket. There was nothing that stood out to her instantly so she decided to head in a random direction.

------------

"Just that little bit more..." he stated with an evil grin as he watched the zombie stumble around the street as the rain fell in sheets. The crosshairs on his gun, an old but well maintain 34 inch bolt action long rifle lined up just to the side of the zombie's head and he pulled the trigger.

He was rewarded as the zombie lurched, as he had expected right into the path of the bullet. Its head exploded in a shower of gore, the body stumbled for a second before it collapsed finally still.

"And another one bites the dust." He said reloading the chamber and then leaning back against the wall to rest his weapon against his shoulder. As he sat there on the roof of the four storey building he reached up a fingerless gloved hand with skeletal fingers and tilted his cowboy hat down to keep the water out of his only eye.

The rain did not bother him. In fact he could not feel it anymore. Nor the cold or heat or the wind. A blessing and curse at the same time. The only thing he felt was his emptiness inside and a fear of what might be in store for him later when he finally did stop moving. He fingered the thick rope that was tied in a noose and hung around his neck absently.

He remembered waking up hanging there, swinging in the wind. Not remembering anything from before. He figured out he was dead pretty fast, well when you were hanging from the gallows with the noose still around your neck and not feeling anything you figured that out fairly fast. That and the large undead crow pecking one of your eyes out.

After sometime and the crow's help he had gotten free. It was strange how the bird seemed to understand his intentions. He did not remember anything, not even a name and chose the first thing he had seen as a new one. The gallows.

"Caw!"

"Hey pard'nah." Gallows spoke towards the large crow that had landed on the metal vent sticking out the roof. "Just killed ya a zombie. Ya might find an eye down there."

"Caw!"

"Can't say I blame ya. Fresh ones are always better."

"Caw. Cacaw!"

Gallows raised his hat with a thumb at that. "Ya don't say..."

The undead cowboy climbed to his feet and walked over to the other side of the building. The crow fluttered its wings and hopped down to the ground and followed. Gallows rested one booted foot on the roof's ledge and leaned over the edge. Pulling his rifle up he looked down the scope as the bird hopped up next to him and cawed again.

"Well I'll be a son of a gun." Gallows stated amusement in his voice. "What do we have here? Two little ladies out for a stroll all alone?"

He sniffed the air as he observed them moving down the street. One appeared to be around her early twenties and the other just a girl. The older one was dressed in a red military style uniform and the younger just casually. The girl hung onto the older ones back.

"She got one of dem'dare fancy vests on." Gallows stated realising why he could not smell the youngest. But frowned in confusion as the older one had no real scent, in fact she smelled almost dead, almost like a very fresh zombie. Not quite the same but similar. "Curious eh?"

The pair suddenly paused in the street and the older one started to look around. Gallows could see they were having a conversation as he lined the crosshairs up against the older one's head.

"You're a bit of a cutie aren't ya." Gallows ginned and his finger tightened on the trigger.

**Chapter 8**

The rain continued falling in heavy sheets, splashing nosily off his wide brimmed cowboy hat, ran in rivulets to the edges before dripping off the brim. He held himself completely still and ignored the pitter-patter of the rain as it continued beating against him, his hat and the ragged brown leather duster he wore.

The crosshairs in his scope aligned perfectly against the blonde's temple as she stood in the street glancing around. It would be a perfect headshot. One of his best he thought in amusement as he continued aiming.

He guessed he had been a good shot when alive but now in death he doubted anyone living could match him. Without the need to breathe or a heartbeat and able to hold himself completely still there was nothing to make his aim shake. Recoil? Pfft! Not a problem any longer.

The wind picked up suddenly battering him and high above them in the clouds lightening flashed, bathing the streets below in white light for a fraction of a second. For that mere fraction of a second Gallows was sure he had seen the woman's eyes glowing.

He paused as the rumble of thunder sounded, his dead index finger held against the trigger as an unexplainable feeling that he was about to make a mistake settled in his dried out guts. A big one.

"Caw!"

He relaxed his finger and pulled his head back from the scope to glance down at the crow beside him.

"Ya felt that too?" Gallows stated while wondering what it was that had caused him not to take the shot.

"Caaaaw." The bird blinked its undead eyes and ruffled itself.

"Scary lady huh?" Gallows wondered as he rested the butt of the rifle on the roof and allowed it to lean against him. He reached into his coat and pulled out a lighter and a rough pre-rolled cigarette. Gallows placed one end between his teeth and lit the other, flicked the lighter shut and replaced it in his coat. He did not actually inhale the smoke, useless for him to even try; it was merely a habit that had obviously carried over into death.

"Whaddya say ta keepin' an eye on them pard?" Gallows asked the crow, which cocked its head at him curiously.

"Caw!" the crow spread its wings and leapt into the air. Gallows watched in interest as the bird glided down into the street towards the pair.

------------

_Nice going Seras_, Seras berated herself mentally. _So far we've found nothing that Zoe can eat or drink, dragged her out into the pissing rain, got her shivering constantly from the cold and scared her half to death. Oh and a zombie almost got her!_

Seras glanced at the various buildings to either side of them as she plodded down the street carrying Zoe on her back. The girl would shiver now and then but did not complain, probably too scared to say anything. Seras once again berated herself for that.

It looked like they were walking in what must have once been a poorer area, possibly even a ghetto. Faded graffiti covered many of the walls ranging from just a scrawled name to some pretty clever and impressive pictures.

Most of the buildings were in various states of disrepair, probably were even before the zombie outbreak. Darkened empty windows with jagged broken glass looking like the teeth of a shark, grinned at them as they passed. Doors often hanging on damaged hinges or completely smashed off, whether done by raiders or zombies Seras could not tell.

The pavements and the road itself were covered in cracks and in some places plant life had begun reclaiming the city, sprouting from under the tarmac. Mostly weeds and grasses that flourished without human intervention. There were even the beginning signs of trees taking root amongst the rubble.

Seras was glad about one thing at seeing the plants growing; Nekrosis did not seem to infect them so they did not have to worry about the plant life turning into carnivorous versions of their former selves. No chance of being chased around by Audrey II look-a-likes.

Seras pondered that thoughtfully while trudging down the middle of the rain-slicked road. Plants remained unaffected and grew as normal, it was only animal life that was affected. She guessed in a few decades or a century that most cities would have vanished under the encroaching plant life as they spread and renewed their grip on the land.

Renewal, the word struck a chord in Seras that led to another thought.

_Impediments to renewal._

_Impediments unacceptable._

The words of Xar Ggothua echoed around her head and Seras frowned as she began trying to connect the dots. The Xar wanted to cause something they called renewal. They were some kind of big ugly creatures, very strong but seemed to required armoured suits to survive outside for any length of time.

They were smart too. Smart enough to create power armour, powerful energy weaponry and even some kind of silent running plane that had no visible means of propulsion. Could they have been the ones to create Nekrosis?

Seras frowned. But why would such an advanced race of powerful creatures need to create a virus to destroy other forms of life? Surely, they could have destroyed humanity easily enough with their weapons.

For the few seconds she had been connected to Xar Ggothua as she drained him of life she had seen or rather been a part of a vast intelligence that seemed to be a network of many littler intelligences all working together. They had not been pleased with her intrusion, even going as far as severing Xar Ggothua from themselves to get rid of her.

She may not have been able to get all the information she wanted out of Ggothua yet, but for the few moments after the Xar disconnected him, he had been open to her. Just before being blown to pieces on that bridge, she had learned that they had been after Zoe and not Dirge.

_Propagation of the sera cannot be facilitated._

Sera. That was the word they used for Zoe and Seras had spent time to look it up. The only definition that made sense to her was that it was the plural form of serum, blood serum from the tissues of immunized animals, containing antibodies and used to transfer immunity to another individual, called antiserum.

Could it be that Zoe was immune to Nekrosis? Which led to…if the Xar had created the virus it would explain why they wanted Zoe destroyed. If she was immune and if the immunity could be passed to others...Lots of ifs.

It could explain why Zoe's blood had seemed unusually alive and sweet to Seras. If the girl had been altered somehow to be immune it might be why.

Seras' thoughts were interrupted suddenly as a she sensed someone watching them, and it was not someone just looking at them. No this was definite malice being directed towards her and she felt a sense of danger.

"We're being watched." Seras told Zoe stopping in mid-stride and pausing to look around the street.

"Zombies?" the girl asked gripping just that bit tighter.

"I don't think so." Seras stated still scanning the street carefully. "Whoever it is is intelligent and they're directing hatred at us."

"Hatred? Why?"

"Who knows?" Seras growled as the feeling of being in danger increased rising in a crescendo that climaxed in the lightening flashing and suddenly the sense of danger trailed away along with the rumble of thunder. The feeling of being watched by someone malevolent stayed but hatred was no longer being directed right at her.

"Odd." Seras pondered aloud.

"What's odd?" Zoe glanced around while shivering again as the wind picked up buffeting her.

"It's gone..."

"Caw!"

Both females glanced to the right at the sudden noise. It was a large crow, a large undead crow that watched them calmly from its perch high above them on an old and rusty streetlamp. Its eyes remained unblinking as it observed.

"A single zombie bird?" Seras pondered as she could not see any more of them. She scanned the other lamps and higher up towards the roof tops. Normally undead birds seemed to hang together in large flocks, where there was one there were usually many.

"Ugh! I hate zombie birds!" Zoe remarked feeling the scar over her right eye itch in remembered pain. The girl eyed the crow angrily and was rewarded by the bird ruffling its feathers and returning the stare. "It's creepy." Zoe finally stated.

"Don't worry, it can't smell you." Seras comforted Zoe while eyeing the bird herself. The crow cocked its head and let out a long drawn out caw and eyed her back.

"Damn ugly thing." Seras commented and the bird cawed angrily at her as if it could understand her. "Let's get moving Master. We still need to find you food and water."

"Yeah." Zoe agreed as Seras set off once more. Zoe kept looking back at the crow as they moved away from it. Once they got about six yards away, the crow spread its wings and took to the air. The undead bird followed them.

"Seras it's following us." Zoe commented and Seras stopped to turn and look back. The crow also stopped to land on another streetlamp and continued to watch.

"Now that is odd." Seras stated watching the bird carefully. "The only time those things follow me around is if I've recently fed...and since that was over a month ago I doubt it thinks I'm food. And it can't smell you with your vest...so why's it following us?"

"Let's just go." Zoe said not wanting to hang around in case more undead birds appeared. Ever since the beach incident six years previous Zoe had not liked birds, which was ironic as she often wore a t-shirt with a raven on it.

"Yes Master." Seras grinned before setting off at a sprint down the street. Behind them the bird took to the air once more and followed keeping exactly six yards behind them.

------------

Gallows leapt the gap between two buildings and landed with splash in a puddle that had gathered during the rain and kept moving. He ran across the flat roof, keeping pace with the woman below as she moved effortlessly down the street carrying the girl.

"She ain't no normal gal." The zombie stated knowing no human could keep the pace she set while carrying someone for this distance. He had been following the pair for over ten minutes now, long enough for the rain to peter off to just a drizzle.

"Aye wonder what she'll do when they hit that blockade up ahead." Gallows stated coming to a halt at the roof edge. He pulled his rifle from his shoulder and once again looked down the scope for a better view.

------------

"It's still following us." Zoe said while looking back at the undead crow following them.

"Bloody feather duster," Seras grumbled with a glance over her shoulder at the bird. "What's so interesting about us?"

Seras turned her attention back to the street ahead that was blocked completely by parked vehicles. A large rusted bus, various sized cars and a few large trucks had been arranged as a blockade. She guessed that that blockade had been used to try to stem off the tide of undead as they poured into the city in search of the living to devour.

"Road's blocked ahead," Seras stated closing in on the makeshift roadblock. "Hold on Master."

Zoe tightened her grip as Seras began picking up speed.

------------

"What're ya up ta cutie?" Gallows wondered as the woman began to increase her pace as she ran towards the blockade. He watched interestedly as she came within ten feet of it and suddenly vanished from his scope.

"What the?" the zombie blinked pulling the rifle down to see her clearing the top of the blockade with plenty of room to spare before disappearing behind it blocking his view of her. The cigarette that he had between his teeth fell to the ground as his jaw dropped in surprise.

He blinked his single eye in confusion before gathering his wits and pulling the rifle backup. Looking down the scope he could now she her walking into view and looking around the other side of the blockade.

"Now...what have ya done but get ol' Gallows all interested in what ya are." The zombie cowboy grinned.

------------

Seras landed on the other side of the blockade with cat-like grace, one hand helping to steady Zoe against her back and the other pressed against the ground. Zoe's whoop of thrill trailed out as Seras stood slowly and glanced around.

"That was awesome!" Zoe grinned.

"If you think that was fun," Seras stated examining the area. It looked as she had expected, like a battlefield. The cars that had been left had the windows missing and the glass lay on the ground in small sparkling pieces. There was more than one blackened husk of former cars that must have exploded and not too far from those were burnt and blackened skeletons. "Wait till I'm at full strength and we can go flying."

"Cool!" Zoe breathed before frowning at what that might entail. "Errr does that mean you'll have to turn into loads of bats again to carry me?"

"Well that's one way." Seras grinned as she walked forward while looking to her left at the buildings. Her grin widened as she saw one building, its large front window shattered where a car had smashed into its front. The car was half embedded into the building, its faded green paintwork covered in patches of rust and flattened tires gave it a forlorn look. A skeletal arm still could be seen hang out the driver window.

"Look! We just might have hit the jackpot." Seras pointed to the faded and loosely hanging sign above the shattered window.

"Quick-Shop Convenience Store," Zoe read out as Seras let her down. "Will that have food?"

"Maybe, if nobody's raided it." Seras wandered over to the crashed car and carefully checked the body in case it turned out to be not as dead as she hoped. There was no need to worry she found out, the unlucky driver had had his skull caved in and the body was just bones. She then moved over to the store window to look into the interior.

The inside was not particularly uplifting to see, it looked like the shelves closest to the window had been smashed to pieces when the car had hit. To the rear there appeared to be some glass refrigerators with stuff still inside. What condition it was in Seras could not be sure.

"Come on." Seras said to Zoe who stood with arms wrapped around her torso shivering in her wet clothes. "There's stuff in here but we'll need to have closer look."

"Okay." Zoe followed the vampire closely as Seras walked up to the door and pushed it. The aged door opened with a creak from the rusty hinges and a tinkle as a bell above the door chimed.

"Hope this is a self-service store." Seras joked stepping in and sniffing. The inside did not smell too promising; it smelt of damp paper and mould. She noted the till was still sat on the service counter; a few faded posters covered the walls behind that. Small packets and shards of glass crunched beneath her boots as she stepped further in.

As she had expected the contents of the shelves nearest the window had been sent scattering across the store's floor and lay as a soggy mess amongst the water that had gathered. The rain over the years had found its way into the store through the shattered window ruining anything that might have been salvageable from that shelf.

Seras walked over to the counter and began examining the stacks of sweets and plastic toys that stood on a rack. They were dusty and grime covered Seras found out by picking up a pair of old sunglasses off the rack. She dropped them to the floor and picked up one of the small plastic tubs of mints.

Seras rattled it before tugging the seal off and popping the lid and then checked the contents. She sniffed them carefully. They smelled fine to her and they were not stuck together which hopefully meant the water had not got to them.

"Here." Seras handed the opened tub to Zoe who greedily popped a few into her mouth. Seras' face showed her amusement as Zoe discovered the mints to be hard and very minty. "You might want to just eat one at a time."

"What are they?" Zoe asked between blowing in an attempt to cool her mouth.

"Mints." Seras said which made Zoe frown in confusion. "Oh, you've probably never had them have you?" Seras continued at Zoe's shake of her head. "They're sweets; you're supposed to suck them. As a bonus they make your breath minty fresh."

"They're weird." Zoe finally stated but kept sucking.

"Hand me your bag. We'll take a couple." Seras asked. Zoe shrugged off her backpack and handed it to Seras who began picking various sweets out and dumping them into the backpack. "Not very nutritious, but they'll have to do for now."

Seras grimaced at the wizened, blackened and mouldy mess that was once hotdogs on a wheel inside a little display oven that would have once kept them warm. She quickly passed that and walked further into the shop, Zoe followed still trying to figure out if she liked these mint things.

They passed a magazine rack that had somehow managed to stay mostly dry. Various comics, car magazines, tv and newspapers littered the rack. One comic caught her attention; the title read Vampires Vs Zombies! Whoever wins we lose! In bright red lettering looking like blood.

_How ironic_, Seras mused picking the comic up. The cover showed various zombies and what the artist had imagined vampires to look like; pretty much made them look like Goths to which Seras shook her head. _We don't all look like that, well maybe Alucard did at times..._

"What's that?" Zoe asked standing on tiptoes to see.

"Just a comic book." Seras replied quickly flicking through it. Seras paused on one page and started chuckling. "Oh my...how wrong can you be?"

"Can I see?"

"Knock yourself out." Seras laughed and handed the work of fiction to Zoe. "Just don't believe any of that stuff."

Seras shook her head slowly and strolled towards the rear of the store, to the glass refrigerators that lined the wall. She opened one and quickly shut it again at the stench.

"Not that one." The vampire waved a hand before her nose to clear to smell of rot. Behind her, Zoe was avidly reading the comic and frowning.

"The zombies are all wrong." Zoe stated following Seras as she moved down the row of fridges.

"I know." Seras said while opening a fridge that contained lots of cans and bottled drinks. "But that was written before people had met real zombies."

Reaching in she picked up a can of cola and pulled the tab off. Seras took a sniff of the stuff carefully before taking a mouthful and testing it. It was flat and did not taste as she remembered the stuff. She guessed it probably was way past its sell by date, hopefully with it being in sealed cans it was still drinkable even if it was not very tasty.

"Here you go Zoe, it's not great but it'll do." Seras said handing the can out to Zoe. Zoe dropped the comic and took the can eagerly and began gulping it down. She finished the drink with a burp and a sour expression.

"It's not very nice."

"I know." Seras agreed while placing a few cans into the backpack. "It'll be best if you just have one for now, just in case it makes you bad."

"Will it?" Zoe asked suddenly worried.

"Doubt it." Seras comforted her with a hand placed lightly on the girl's shoulder. "It's just a precaution. Now let's see what else we can find you."

Seras began checking the remaining shelves behind Zoe for edible foods. She picked a packet of foil packaged chips that claimed to be vacuum sealed for extra freshness. She doubted it made much difference after being on the shelves for years now. Pulling the packet open revealed that they looked okay but when she picked one out it felt soft and mushy.

"They're no good." Seras stated tossing the packet over the shelf.

"What about these?" Zoe asked holding up a colourful packet.

"No, don't bother with anything in packets like that." Seras took the item off Zoe and tossed it away. "Stuff like that doesn't last long enough. We need stuff in tins really."

They wandered down the aisle, Seras examining the shelves while Zoe followed closely behind her.

"Ah ha!" Seras grinned as they came across a small selection of tins. She began picking them up, checking the dates and frowning. "Well…they're out of date but I think they should still be edible. I've read that some tinned stuff has been found to be okay after fifty years, depending on the metal of the tins."

"So what cool old food have we found?" Zoe asked excitedly thinking about what the stuff might taste like. After growing up on vegetables and stews Zoe was looking forward to old style food that she had heard the grown up sometimes talk about lovingly.

"Beans." Seras stated dropping a few tins into the backpack with a clunk.

------------

Gallows sat casually with one leg dangling over the edge of the rooftop across the street from the building the blonde woman and purple-haired girl had entered around an hour ago. He sat there smoking and patiently waiting for them to walk back out.

He idly flicked his lighter open and closed while he wondered about the blonde and what it was that made her so fascinating to him despite his gut feeling that she was trouble. He had learned to trust his instincts in these things, especially as he had no real memories.

"Why do aye get ta feeling that she's bad news?" Gallows asked the bird perched on his shoulder. The crow just blinked its eyes.

Not long after they had entered the building he had smelt smoke and spotted the flicking orange signs of a small fire from inside. He was not too surprised by this as the pair had been soaked from the rain earlier, however he did wonder at their apparent lack of care. He knew the undead would head towards anything that disturbed the silence of the world, anything unusual could attract them and a fire came under that category.

"Hey up." Gallows stated as movement caught his eye and he put the lighter away. The blonde had appeared at the doorway and was glancing up at the still overcast sky. Gallows reached into his duster and retrieved his antiquated extendable brass telescope, which he quickly raised to his eye. The blonde soon came into focus as she stood frowning at the sky.

"Whatcha doing now cutie?" Gallows asked as he observed her carrying what appeared to be a roll of bandages. She turned her attention away from the sky and held up her right hand to stare at the appendage.

"Well…whaddya know." Gallows exhaled in surprise at the sight of torn flesh and bone. The blonde's hand was a real mess that should have had her in constant pain yet she showed no sign of feeling the damage, just like himself. Could it be?

"Can she be another like me?" Gallows wondered aloud while still watching her closely as she began wrapping the bandages around her hand. Soon she had the wound covered and tore the excess off with her teeth. See flexed her hand experimentally before turning slightly as if to head back in and paused.

"Hellsing…" Gallows read out the only word he could make out under the logo of a cartoon bat with a pink heart stamped on her short sleeve. "Hmmm...whaddya say ta introducing ourselves to missy Hellsing pard'nah?" he asked the crow.

"Caaaaw."

"Ya don't say." Gallows raised the telescope to the first floor of the building. There was movement at the window as a dark shape moved past it. "Looks like they ain't alone."

------------

Seras paused in the doorway to the store, the feeling of being watched had returned. This time it was a feeling of curiosity and not the sense of danger of the previous one. She glanced around curiously with one hand against the doorframe trying to seek out the origin of the feeling.

The flutter of wings startled her. Seras spun quickly to see the undead crow had returned and was now stood on the roof of the smashed car watching her.

"What do you want?" Seras growled to which the crow cawed once spread its wings wide before leaping back into the air and flying off. "Weird." She said as she watched the bird fly across the street.

"What's weird?" Zoe's voice asked from behind her.

Seras glanced back at the girl. "That crow came back and then took off."

"The ugly bird right?"

"Yeah that one." Seras agreed with a last glance around. "Looks like the cloud cover is set in. Come on let's get your stuff and get moving."

"Okay." Zoe turned around and walked back into the store. The pair made their way towards the small fire Seras had started so Zoe could keep warm and warm the beans. The magazines supplied the fuel and the lighters she had discovered behind the counter had made starting it easy. Seras had carefully smelt the food as she cooked it, with her sensitive sense of smell she could easy detect if the food had gone off.

Zoe gathered the few bits and pieces she wanted to take and dropped them into her backpack. She soon zipped it shut and with a grunt lifted it.

"It's heavy." Zoe groaned as she struggled with the weight of the various tins in the backpack.

"Here, I'll carry it." Seras said taking the backpack from the girl and casually placing it over one shoulder as the backpack was too small for her to wear both straps.

"Thanks."

"Not a..." Seras began to speak but a sudden creak of floorboards above their heads startled them both. They glanced up as one as the sound of footsteps began moving and their eyes tracked the sound as someone moved around in the room above them.

"Se..."

"Shush!" Seras hissed indicating to Zoe to stay back as she wandered stealthily over to the rear of the store where there was a door that read employees only. The vampire placed an ear to the door and listened. There was a faint click and a quiet creak as a door was opened upstairs. That was soon followed by careful footsteps that moved towards her.

Seras frowned as they changed tone, indicating to her that who or whatever was above them was now coming down stairs towards them. There was a faint creak and she pressed herself against the wall to the left of the door. Listening carefully she could now hear two heartbeats; one was Zoe's as she crouched out of sight and the other was approaching from the other side of the door.

_Someone's alive?_ Seras wondered keeping silent. Even if the person coming down was living, she was not taking any chances; experience had taught her to be wary of people that lived in the cold zones as she had met crazies out here before.

The footsteps paused just behind the door before the door handle started to slowly inch downwards as someone turned it from the other side. Seras got ready as the door started to open, slowly being pushed from the other side. When a sleek black crossbow was poked out Seras acted.

With one smooth movement, she yanked the door open and grabbed the underside of the weapon to push it upwards. Whoever had hold of the weapon yelped in surprise and the loaded bolt shot out with a whoosh to embed itself into the ceiling with a thunk noise.

A knife appeared in her vision flashing towards her head. Seras' training kicked in and she raised her right arm catching the person's forearm underneath and sending the attack upwards and missing her head by a wide margin. She moved again grabbing the person's wrist and with a single movement pushed them back the way they came until they hit the wall.

Seras blinked as she held the man she had pushed back, one hand holding his hand above his head that held his knife and the other holding the crossbow down towards the floor.

He stared wide-eyed at her in total surprise, his dark brown eyes startled.

"You...you're not a zombie?" the guy stated his voice a deep baritone.

"Nope." Seras growled keeping him held back just in case as she examined him. He appeared somewhere in his late forties or early fifties. He had long wild black and grey hair held in a loose ponytail and a matching scraggily beard. He wore a thick red and black flannel shirt and dirty torn jeans, worn boots and had a dirty wild look about him. He was taller than Seras but not by much, probably once had been quite a stocky guy Seras thought taking in his now gaunt features and loose clothing, she guessed he did not get a lot of food.

"Who are you?" Seras asked slowly releasing her hold on the guy and stepping away carefully. He smelled of decay Seras noted, but under the smell she could tell he was alive.

"I should be the one asking that question, not many people venture out here any longer." The guy stated rubbing his wrist with a dirty hand and examining her carefully. "That's some grip you got there girl." He remarked.

"Seras?" Zoe asked approaching cautiously.

"It's okay Zoe, I think." Seras said stepping back into the room and allowing the guy to look in.

He stared between Seras and Zoe eyeing them carefully. "You're both alive?"

Seras and Zoe exchanged a look.

"Mostly." Seras grinned causing him to frown at her. His eyes focused on the small fire burning and his face showed his shock and a hint of fear.

"Idiots!" he stated pushing past them and rushing over to stamp the fire out. "How long has that blasted thing been going?"

"Excuse me!" Seras exclaimed at the tone he took with them.

"Did they not teach you any basic survival?" he pointed at Seras. "Every undead within miles will have caught a whiff of that damned smoke!"

"But they can't smell us." Zoe stated. "I've got my vest..."

"Don't matter. Anything different or out of the norm will attract them!" he lectured waving a finger at the girl who took a step back from the smell. "Making a loud noise and starting fires will attract them like shit does flies!"

"No need to..." Seras tried to speak but he rushed past them into the back again.

"Follow me!" the guy commanded. When they did not immediately follow he spoke again. "There's over five thousand walking corpses in this city and every one of them will be heading this way right now...unless you want to be torn apart I suggest you come with me."

Seras glanced at Zoe and shrugged before following the man into the back. He was already moving up the stairs by the time Seras with Zoe following close to her stepped into the back.

"Quickly!" the guy said, urgency clear in his tone.

"And where exactly are we going mister...?" Seras asked prompting him for a name.

"Walker." He replied motioning for them to follow before disappearing into the nearest room.

"Stay behind me," Seras leaned over and whispered to Zoe. "Just in case."

Zoe nodded and followed Seras slowly up the stairs. At the top Seras indicated for Zoe to wait before she followed their newest acquaintance into the room he had gone into.

One she had stepped inside Seras looked around the room carefully taking note of the many different sized cardboard boxes that were stacked or laid around the room. A lot of them had been opened and their contents strewn across the bare wood floor haphazardly. The walls were painted with a dull grey paint that was beginning to peal in places. It seemed that this room was the store's storeroom.

Walker was standing by one of the two average sized windows and looking down the street using a pair of binoculars. When he heard Seras' booted footsteps enter the room he lowered the binoculars and half turned to her.

"Come here." He said quietly with a wave of his hand. When Seras drew alongside him, he offered her the binoculars. "Look down the street. They're already coming this way."

Seras eyed him warily before she looked out the window having no need to use the viewing device. As he had said there were a few shambling corpses moving around down the street heading towards them slowly. Even as Seras frowned in surprise as another one made its way bumpily out of a side street, paused for a moment before turning and joining the other few heading their way.

"Do you see them?" Walker asked.

"Yeah," Seras stated with a faint nod. "Damn, I thought we were safe if they couldn't smell Zoe."

"You would have been if you hadn't gone starting fires."

"What's happening?" Zoe asked as the girl approached the two adults. Zoe placed herself as far from the man as she could and was still able to look out the window, he did smell bad. She stared hard but could not see anything unusual in the distance.

"Zombies." Seras stated before turning to the older man next to her. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll get Zoe out here."

"Wait a minute!" Walker stated grabbing the back of Seras' shirt as she turned to leave. "It's suicidal to go out into the streets with them heading this way. Once one gets it into its head to examine something they all come-a-running."

_It's suicidal to grab me like that!_, Seras thought in annoyance. "We'll be fine." She said pulling free.

"You're crazy."

"I get that a lot." She smirked taking Zoe's hand and leading the girl towards the doorway. Just before they got there Walker ran over.

"Listen, I've got a safe place. If we get there they won't find you and will eventually give up." He told them and Seras paused. "I have food you could take and once the coast is clear it'll be safer for the pair of you to continue on to wherever you're going."

"How far is it?" Seras asked slowly after a short paused to think about it. She did not really want to hang around but he was offering to help them. If Zoe really did want to stay outside and find Dirge afterwards she would need food for a while until they could set their own garden or something up.

"Bouts a mile away, give or take."

"And how will we get there without attracting more zombies. You said its suicidal going into the streets." Seras asked.

"We won't be using the streets." He replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. "We'll use the rooftops and the buildings."

------------

"We've lost the scent." Dirge sighed as he watched Cerberus wander around in circles in the street sniffing and searching for Seras' scent. It had been going well Dirge supposed, too well and that was why it had to rain. Just his typical luck.

"At least we know they came through here." Nephthys replied sauntering over to him. "At a guess I'd say they are following the main roads, northwards."

"Brilliant deduction. Wonder if they're heading to Canada? Or maybe even the North Pole? After all there's only soooo much continent to the North." Dirge waved his arms in a large circle emphasizing the size.

Nephthys ignored Dirge's comments while watching Cerberus wandering back to them. The zombie dog sat in his haunches and whined apologetically. Idly Nephthys patted his head, which caused a strand of wet black hair to fall in front of her eyes. The Egyptian zombie flicked it out of the way.

"Don't suppose you could ask your Gods to point us in the right direction." Dirge said sarcastically before glancing over at her. The large zombie paused for a moment before he snickered at something.

"The Gods rarely take a direct hand in events once they set our paths in motion. They are content to merely watch as we make our own choices...and mistakes." Nephthys stated hinting that he should be careful with his next words. She could guess what he was chuckling at. Her normally immaculate hair was soaked and hanging lifelessly around her head like long black rat's tails.

"You know, that's just the sort of cryptic bullshit I expect from you." Dirge stated rolling his eyeballs. "There's _always_ some way to explain why they don't show up to fix things."

"And if they did," Nephthys replied turning to face northwards. "You would complain that you have no freewill."

"Whatever." Dirge sighed and kicked a loose stone down the street. "Least they could do is give us a hint."

Nephthys shook her head slowly; sometimes Dirge could be so negative. She raised her eyes heavenwards and caught a faint scent carried on the breeze that was different.

"Dirge, do you smell that?"

"Huh?" Dirge stated sniffing the air. "Yeah, smells faintly like smoke."

"Yes a fire is burning somewhere nearby." Nephthys took a few deep sniffs. "And something else."

"Smells like someone's been cooking..." Dirge stated sniffing again and recognising the faint smell. "Beans?"

The two zombies exchanged a look. Cooking beans could only mean one thing, someone was alive.

"It appears the Gods have decided to help us after all." Nephthys smirked triumphantly.

------------

"How…much…further?" Zoe gasped between breaths while holding onto the banister of the stairwell they were currently climbing. The muscles in her legs burned and her feet were aching from all the climbing. The up and down stairs combined with the crossing from rooftop to rooftop by narrow wooden boards and the jumping from fire escape to fire escape for the last half an hour were taking their toll on her.

Seras paused in mid-step and turned back to Zoe concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Zoe wheezed.

"You don't sound it." Seras frowned before turning to their would-be rescuer. "Mister Walker, Zoe's exhausted. Can we take five minutes timeout for her to catch her breath?"

"It's not safe to wait around here." Walker stated annoyed with having to waste time in their escape. "There's a solid door to the roof that can be fixed shut. She can rest once we get there."

Seras gave him a look that said she was not impressed with his tone. "Can you make it to the roof Zoe?" She asked turning back to the girl.

"If she can't keep up she's a liability that may get us killed. Now come on!" Walker said seriously and set off again. "Probably should leave the scrawny kid behind." He mumbled to himself.

Zoe glared angrily at his back as he continued up the stairwell having heard what he had just said and began seething. What had started as mild dislike because of his smell was now turning into a definite detest. Zoe set her jaw in determination and pushed on. She would show him! Jerk! Taking as deep a breath as she could manage Zoe forced her legs to move again.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Seras offered as Zoe caught up with her.

Zoe's face lit up quickly and fell just as fast. No, she was going to show the jerk.

"I'm fine." Zoe stated looking down at the stairs and moving again. _Come on! Just one foot then the other_, Zoe mentally growled.

Seras watched the girl struggle past her, her face unreadable. The vampire's eyes followed Zoe as she kept going higher until the girl was a good few steps ahead, then Seras' face split into a pleased grin.

_Strong-willed, independent and willing to fight through pain_, Seras grinned following Zoe. _Everything I could ever want in a Master_.

Zoe focused her attention on her feet, forcing each step out. It was agonisingly slow progress and she began to feel frustrated at her body's refusal to cooperate. She could sense Seras behind her, hovering close by, probably just waiting for her to give up and be carried. Zoe's next step slipped on the stair lip and she stumbled. She managed to regain her balance by using the banister even as Seras moved up to help her.

"Don't help me!" Zoe commanded when Seras went to pick her up. The vampire paused, straightened up and examined her carefully for a moment.

"Very well, then what are your orders Master?" Seras asked with a grin and slight bow.

"Go on ahead and make sure it's safe." Zoe said after thinking.

"As you command Master." Seras said. She turned and set off taking the steps three at a time. Zoe felt jealousy spring up at how casually Seras moved before staring upwards at how many stairs were still ahead.

Zoe felt her spirits fall for a moment before she shook the thought of failure out of her mind. She was going to get to the top! She was going to make that guy eat his words! Along with her renewed determination came a burst of energy she did not know she had and Zoe set off again keeping focused on one thing and one thing alone. Moving forward.

So focused was she that she did not hear the creaking groan of tortured wood as she moved on. The solid banister behind her where she had gripped had developed five round indentations.

------------

Seras stepped out onto the roof carefully through the doorway and into the dull daylight. The rain had returned as a fine drizzle and the cloud cover still looked solid. She thanked God for the clouds and grinned in amusement at the thought of a vampire thanking God.

Glancing over the flat roof she saw Walker standing by one edge and looking out into the distance. He held his crossbow resting against his shoulder. Seras began walking towards him, when she approached he turned to her.

"If you look over there you'll see my place." He pointed into the distance.

Seras walked up to the edge and looked where he indicated. In the distance, across two more buildings and then over the street was a large building that looked to Seras like a warehouse. She scanned the building and noticed the faded sign said Walker's Meat Distribution. She also could make out the mass of what she guessed were solar panels, rigged up in various places.

"Walker's Meat? Did you own that?" Seras asked.

"Yup." Walker said proudly. "It was my Pop's first though. He set it up way back, way before this happened."

"I take it you've managed to defend the place." Seras smirked.

"Yep. When the outbreak started we hid in there and blocked the doorways with forklifts." Walker said remembering.

"We?" Seras prompted.

"My family, wife and two kids and a few employees." Walker elaborated. "When we heard the last few broadcasts over the radio telling us about their ability to smell the living we defrosted the freezers. The smell of rotten meat managed to hide us."

"Ahhhh," Seras nodded. "I was wondering about that. The smell I mean. Not to be nasty or anything but you stink."

"Beats the alternative of being eaten." Walker said with a faint smirk playing on his lips as he watched Seras intently as if sizing her up. "The smell does keep them confused unless they get close."

Seras folded her arms and nodded again. "Not a bad idea at all. So you've been out here since the outbreak? Just you and few others?"

"That's right. I'm only out here to scavenge bits and pieces." Walker indicated towards the solar panels with his weapon. "The panels trickle charge the energy cells we've collected together which keeps the freezers going. We sleep by the heat exchangers to keep warm."

Seras pondered these people's ingenuity. They had survived out here for almost fourteen years and done so without the use of high-tech scent cloaking devices like the people of the Acropolis. If a few had done it who knew how many other humans had survived in the cold zones. It was a comforting thought for the future.

Seras turned to the doorway as she sensed her master's presence. Zoe stepped confidently out and sent a smirk towards Walker, the tiredness she had shown on the stairs seemingly gone. Seras stared at the girl for a moment wondering why Zoe seemed unwinded suddenly. She seemed different to Seras' senses, stronger and more confident.

"Well I'll be..." Walker shook his head amused. "She made decent time."

"Yeah...almost too decent." Seras absently replied before walking over to Zoe. The vampire walked around her to close the door to the roof. All the time Seras had a thoughtful and almost confused look on her face.

"What?" Zoe asked as Seras kept looking at her funnily.

"How're you feeling?"

"Great!" Zoe grinned. "Like I could do that all day!"

"Oh." Seras stated simply before placing her unbandaged hand on Zoe's shoulder. _Hmmm, still warm and I can hear her heart beating. What's going on here? She was knackered just a few minutes ago and now she's fine_, Seras wondered to herself. "Come on, we're not safe yet." Seras said aloud and led Zoe towards the roof's edge.

Walker was lifting an angled sheet of metal out of the way to reveal a set of wooden ladders. He proceeded to place them across the gap between buildings. He made sure the ladders were settled and turned to them.

"Okay, now listen up," He started. "We cross over here and then go down through the building to the ground floor. Unfortunately, we need to cross the street to my place. Once there, there is a fire escape that we need to climb." He pointed towards his warehouse. "Do you see it?"

"Yeah." Seras said spotting the fire escape by the warehouse easily.

Zoe looked in the direction Walker was indicating. She could vaguely make out what appeared to be the fire escape. "I think so."

"You think so..." Walker said narrowing his eyes and pointing. "You better be sure, cause we're going to have to cross the street and if any zombies get a whiff..."

"She'll be fine Mr. Walker." Seras said dangerously. "She's faced things that you wouldn't believe."

"Fine." Walker said tersely with a shrug. "I'll cross first and get the ladders down for you two. Don't hang about."

With that said, he climbed onto the ledge and with an ease born through practice he quickly crossed the ladders to other roof. Once across he waved for them to follow.

"I'll go first." Seras said climbing onto the ledge. While crouched she turned back to Zoe and lowered her voice. "I'm not convinced about this guy...yet."

"Okay." Zoe said watching Seras rise smoothly. Seras smiled confidently down at Zoe before she jogged across the ladders, her feet only lightly touching the rungs. She was across in three steps and dropped down beside Walker who looked on appreciately.

Once Seras was across Zoe climbed up onto the ledge, across from her she could see Walker quietly saying something to Seras but could not make it out. Zoe rose to her feet, looked over the edge and wished she had not. It was a long way down.

"Zoe! Crawl across if you have to." Seras shouted, both hands raised to her mouth to which Walker winced and began looking around nervously.

Looking down Zoe decided that was a good idea. The girl dropped to her hands and knees and began the process of crawling across the rather large gap. The ladder would wobble and flex with every movement she made which did not help her nerves any. Eventually she got into range of Seras who leaned over to lift her off the ladder and placed her back on the ground.

"Easy." Seras grinned while ruffling Zoe's hair.

"Come on." Walker grumbled while walking quickly towards the door. "With all the noise you've been making I have the feeling we're not going to be alone for long."

Zoe glared and gave him the finger behind his back. He pushed the door open and checked inside before turning back towards them. As he turned Seras had grabbed Zoe's hand and was now holding it as she dragged Zoe with her towards the door. Seeing they were following Walker entered and disappeared from sight.

"What?" Zoe asked innocently while Seras led her by the hand.

"He may be a jerk but he's offering help." Seras stated popping her head into the doorway. "It's rude of you."

"Bah. He's rude too."

"Yeah but you're better than that." Seras said.

------------

"Move it ugly!" Dirge stated grabbing a shambling zombie by the head and yanking it out of the way with a crunching noise and a wet splat when it hit the ground behind them. "Ladies first." Dirge gave a mock bow to Nephthys who rolled her eyes.

"Since when are you a gentleman?"

"Hey I'm always gentle." Dirge stated turning and whacking another zombie's head off with his shovel that had gotten too close. "Hmmm, good distance on that one." He stated watching the head bounce down the road.

"Oh I see," Nephthys smirked stepping inside with her scythe ready. The zombies already inside the store were moving around slowly in circles looking almost like undead consumers out shopping. "You're practicing for your girlfriend." She chuckled while casually swinging the weapon in a smooth arc slicing a couple of zombie heads off.

"Girlfriend?" Dirge blinked also stepping into the store. "She isn't no such thing...Cerberus guard the door. No one gets in."

The large zombie dog nodded his gruesome head and turned back to the street where he proceeded to growl like a hellhound he looked at the approaching undead.

"Really?" Nephthys drawled stepping over the bodies and sniffing to locate the smell. It was strongest towards the back. "You two seemed close."

"What?" Dirge wondered grabbing another unsuspecting zombie and twisting its head snapping its neck. "We were...just looking after the girl." Dirge said still holding the zombie, which struggled weakly in his hands. In the background there where growls and tearing noises as Cerberus went about following his orders.

"Oh pleeeease. You were all over her." Nephthys grinned in amusement. "You even argued like a married couple."

"We did not." Dirge replied dragging snapped-neck with him, who he had in a headlock now as he followed Nephthys around the shelves. "Besides we had nothing in common. Anyway Seras already has a boyfriend."

"Aside from both being dead? And I take it you mean the Frenchman." Nephthys said stopping before the remains of a fire. "Didn't she eat him?" she asked crouching down to pick the empty tin up that lay beside the cinders. "She said all she consumed became a part of her did she not?"

"Yeah." Dirge agreed and looked at the object Nephthys had picked up. Snapped-neck had managed to figure out how to get his hands wrapped around Dirge's meaty undead forearm and was trying to remove it. "You know...it almost sounds like someone's got a case of the green eyed monster."

"Oh please."

"Am I close?" Dirge grinned giving snapped-neck a shake. "It's hard to tell cause you're green all the time."

"I'd be careful about getting close to the vampire." Nephthys warned. "She might take a liking to you and want you closer."

"Doubt it." Dirge chuckled. "Besides I'd likely give her indigestion. You ever seen a vampire with indigestion? Ughh not pretty sight. Anyway, what have you found?"

"An empty tin of..." she read the label. "Beans."

Dirge eyed the tin before glancing around the floor and sniffing. "No sign of blood and these losers," Dirge indicated the other zombies in the store with his thumb of his free hand. "Don't look fresh enough for recent victims. I'd say they left long before these guys got here."

"I would agree with you for once." Nephthys took a few careful sniffs of the air. She could smell the vampire's odd not-quite-dead scent and something else. She sniffed again trying to figure out the weird scent. She was almost certain there was a human scent here but it was hidden under another. "Dirge...I think they weren't alone."

"Really?"

"There is another scent in here, human...I think. It is hard to tell." Nephthys sniffed as she followed the scents back past Dirge. Dirge who had finally gotten bored of dragging snapped-neck around lifted the zombie above his head and tossed it across the store.

"All I can smell is beans, zombies and Seras." Dirge stated following. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Nephthys replied tracking the scent now she could separate it from the smell of zombies. "They went this way."

Dirge shrugged as Nephthys stepped through the door to the rear of the store. "Here boy!"

Cerberus' head appeared at the window, a well chewed arm dangling from his jaws. The zombie dog's head then vanished from sight before it reappeared in the doorway and padded its way over to Dirge.

"Good boy." Dirge said patting Cerberus. "Come on, Queen Tut thinks she has a lead."

The pair followed Nephthys into the back. She was nowhere in sight but her scent went up the stairs and soon Dirge and Cerberus found themselves on the roof of the store. Nephthys was standing by the roof edge and looking out across the roofs.

"The scents stop here." The Egyptian zombie stated while pointing. "They are using the rooftops to travel."

"Not a bad idea." Dirge stated leaning over the edge to check the gap. It was barely four feet across, easily jumped for a live human but if normal zombies followed someone, they would most likely end up falling three stories. "Well, less talking more chasing." Dirge stated rubbing his palms together before taking a casual leap across the gap.

------------

"You two wait here and stay quiet." Walker told Seras and Zoe as they stood in the entrance way to what had once been a restaurant. "When you see I'm across and have the ladders down move as fast as you can. Got it?"

"We've got it." Zoe sighed, her arms folded and looking bored. Walker gave the young girl a hateful glare which Zoe did not see but Seras did notice.

"We understand Mr. Walker." Seras said stepping forward as his hands twitched and placed herself between Zoe and him. "Let's get going. The sooner we're off the streets the better."

Walker glanced at Seras and held her gaze for a moment before nodding.

"Follow when I signal." He stated before stepping out past the shattered doors. Seras watched carefully as Walker glanced up and down the street warily. Once he was satisfied, he set off at a jog weaving in between the various abandoned and rusting cars in the street.

"Zoe..." Seras spoke drawing the girl's attention to her. "Can you tone it down just a little? He looked ready to throttle you there."

"I'd like to see him try while you're here." Zoe grinned cockily. Seras stared down at Zoe her expression suddenly unreadable. Zoe noticed the sudden change in atmosphere and the grin vanished. "What?"

"I'm here to keep you alive...not prevent someone from giving you a lesson in manners." Seras said finally. "He is offering food and shelter and you are being a brat."

"But he's weird and I don't like him!"

"Don't make excuses! It is not befitting of a Master of Monsters." Seras snapped leaning down and baring her fangs. "This guy has been out here since the outbreak with only his family and a few friends. You think you've had it rough growing up in the Acropolis with trained guards protecting you and all the basic comforts? These people have had it far worse. Of course he's going to be a little strange! You did not know what life was like before the outbreak and you were too young to remember it."

As Seras spoke Zoe's expression went from confusion to hurt and finally settled on anger. "Why are you sticking up for him? You said you would do as I wanted!"

"I said I would obey my Master." Seras' face remained hard. "But my Master is not some whiny brat. My Master is someone I have to respect and admire...I don't see that at this moment. Don't forget what I am...and don't make me regret my decision."

Seras turned away to look out over the silent street thoughtfully. _Maybe I'm being too hard on her_, she thought. _I guess I can't expect her to be everything Integra ever was. Although maybe I can prod her in the right direction...I want to help them survive, but they need to take action. They can only survive so long hiding away. They need a strong leader. They needed..._

"Are you coming?" Zoe's question startled Seras from her thoughts. She blinked as she realised she had been so deep in her thoughts that Walker had been signalling them to cross the street. Zoe was standing ahead of her in the doorway and looking back over her shoulder. "Or are you going to run away like you were planning back then? Now that I'm not _worthy_ of you and all that."

"Wha?" Seras was taken aback by Zoe's cool tone.

"Cause if you are I want my bag." Zoe said stepping out and into the street. Seras blinked before stepping after the girl automatically. "You're still following me?" Zoe asked staring forward her eyes only on her destination.

"I said I'd keep you alive."

"You can run away now if you want." Zoe stated. "I don't care. I'll go find Dirge by myself. I don't need a vampire, especially a cowardly one."

"Cowardly?" Seras asked positioning herself just behind Zoe.

"Yeah, you didn't really want to go with me to the Acropolis six years ago making excuses as to why you couldn't be around people. Then when you did, you hid what you are from everyone and let me suffer instead. You're so afraid of what people like my Mom or Walker think about you. Well I don't care about what they think about me!"

Seras stopped in her tracks at Zoe's words. _That wasn't it!_ Seras thought uncomfortably. _I don't want to hurt people_.

_Really?_ Her conscious whispered. _Or is it you didn't want to be hurt if they rejected you? Or is it you're afraid of becoming like your former Master if you stopped caring what people thought?_

Seras shook her head to clear her thoughts; Zoe's words had struck a chord in her, she was so perceptive for someone so young yet. Seras frowned. _I'm not afraid of nothing any longer,_ she thought repeating those words she had once said to Paladin Anderson. Seras took off again at a quick pace to catch up with the girl who was still calmly walking across the street.

"Still here?" Zoe asked as Seras drew alongside her and matched her pace.

"Yes my Master." Seras stated with a faint hiss to her voice making her sound vicious.

Zoe glanced up at Seras from the corner of her eyes; something had suddenly changed about her, Zoe could feel it. Seras' eyes moved to look down at Zoe and she noticed they were blood red, like when Seras used her abilities. Zoe grinned.

"Walker'll be pissed we're taking our time."

"Let him." Seras gave a fanged grin in reply. "Who cares as long as I have a strong Master to protect and obey."

They crossed the last few feet with no incident. Seras lifted Zoe high enough so that the girl could get hold of the ladders and climbed up. Seras jumped and caught the a higher rung easily and followed Zoe up.

"What the hell are you two playing at?" Walker hissed once they got on to the fire escape. "Are you trying to attract zombies?"

"Calm down Mr. Walker." Seras stated looking at him. "There were no zombies about."

Walker paused as for the first time he noticed Seras' eye colour and frowned certain they had not been red earlier. He stared at Seras unsure suddenly about her.

"God it stinks!" Zoe stated wrinkling her nose at the smell of rotten meat emanating from the warehouse. "How do you live here?"

"You get use to it." Walker replied breaking eye contact with Seras, glad for the distraction. "This way."

He led them halfway down the building before stopping before a fire door. Seras examined it taking note of its sturdy construction while Walker opened it carefully. He stepped in and Seras followed. Zoe stepped in after them and almost gagged at the smell, it was worse than ever inside.

"Urrgh." Zoe exclaimed trying to breathe without getting a noseful of the stench.

Seras walked over to the railing that ran along the walkway they found themselves on and looked across the interior. It was dark in the warehouse, dull light filtered in through the dirty windows, made worse by the overcast sky. The walkway extended all the way down both sides of the building and at points joined across to the other side. She could make out stairs down over the other side and guessed there were ones on this side as well.

The temperature was low inside which she put down to being a sealed building and the refrigerators that Walker had said they had. Looking over the railing, she saw a pair of large stainless steel doors with a set of big metal handles. _Those must be one of the freezers,_ Seras thought.

The other thing of note was the many hanging chains from the roof, which ended in meat hooks. Most were just dangling loosely but there were some that had what Seras thought looked like body bags hanging from them. Roughly one-in-five. Taking a careful sniff, she guessed they contained the rotting whatevers that Walker was using to keep the zombies from smelling him.

"This way to get down." Walker said leading them over to the stairs and then down to ground level.

Seras glanced amused towards Zoe who looked a little green around the gills. _She must be regretting having eaten_, Seras thought. _Can't blame her, if I was still alive I'd be feeling sick too_.

As they stepped off the stairs, Seras frowned while glancing around. The place seemed empty, lifeless. She could not feel anyone else around aside from Zoe and Walker himself; of course, she could not be certain with her abilities weakened as they were.

"I thought you said you had family here?" Seras asked turning to Walker.

"I do." Walker replied with a mysterious smile. "They stay hidden until I let them know I'm back. Wait here, I'll go get them. We can relax and talk over dinner later."

Seras watched him as he wandered off and disappeared from sight through a strip door with dirty and yellowed plastic hanging strips.

"Seras...can we just go?" Zoe asked looking ill.

"Yeah, I think this isn't such a good idea anymore." Seras wandered slowly over to one of the bags and examined it. "Something doesn't feel right." She poke the bag watching as it moved as if full of water. If what was in there was rotting, it must be practically just liquids and she did not intend to open it to find out.

Seras turned away from the bag and walked back over to Zoe who had started to head for the stairs they had just came down.

"Wait a sec." Seras said changing direction, heading towards the large freezer doors. "He offered you food."

Zoe sighed in frustration, she just wanted to get outside and back into fresh air. Turning around she walked back over to Seras who was taking hold of the freezer door handles, all the while Zoe held her hands over her nose and mouth in an attempt to lessen the smell.

"Let's see what he has." Seras pulled the handles and the doors swung open easily for her. Once the doors opened, a single light flickered on revealing the interior. Beside her, she heard Zoe gasp and seeing what was inside she almost did the same.

Seras had expected to see maybe some animal carcasses hanging inside but not the amount of skinned and headless ones that hung upside-down by their tied together ankles. She felt her eyes widen in surprise involuntary as she recognised a human carcass when she saw one. The carcasses were prepared perfectly, all the internal organs removed and only the meat and bones left.

"What the hell?" Seras whispered more surprised that she was shocked, than by the gruesome sight. She stepped in slowly and checked out the nearest carcass. "These are human..."

"Seras? Were, these zombies?" Zoe asked her voice little more than a whisper.

"I...I don't know." Seras said tearing her eyes away from the carcass and looking around the freezer. Her eyes settled on a shelf towards the back and she swore. Lining the shelves were frozen heads. She counted one for each carcass and knew instinctively by the frozen expression of horror that they had etched on them, that they had not been zombies when they died.

"Zoe...come on. We're getting out of here." Seras stated taking Zoe by the hand and turning towards the exit.

Seras had just stepped out when she had a premonition of danger and reacted. Grabbing Zoe, she dragged the girl away and spun around even as her ears picked out the whistle of a projectile heading their way. Seras tossed Zoe out of the way, the girl landed in a pile inside the freezer and slid along the icy floor. Before she had even stopped a solid metal bolt slammed into Seras' shoulder flinging her around with the force of impact sending Zoe's backpack clattering to the floor just inside of the freezer doors.

Seras also hit the floor and rolled over hissing at the sudden pain in her shoulder and placing a hand to the wound. She could see Walker reloading the crossbow he was carrying. He raised it grinning like a lunatic and Seras knew he was aiming at Zoe.

Springing to her feet, she charged the freezer doors, slamming them shut on Zoe. The last thing Zoe saw before the doors plunged the freezer into total darkness as the lights switched off was another bolt exploding from Seras' throat.

Walker smirked as Seras collapsed slowly to the ground leaning against the freezer doors. He lowered the weapon and began reloading it. So...the Seras woman had managed to save the brat and buy her some time. Too bad, she had thrown the girl into the freezer, as there was nowhere to go from there. He would deal with the scrawny kid later, first things first was to take care of the body before it decided to get back up.

Chop the head off first to prevent it waking up. Then he would prepare the body for freezing. He continued grinning as he approached.

"I do hope they like you." Walker said crouching down next to Seras and taking hold of her shoulder. He gave it a quick squeeze and grinned again. A prime catch, she had been fit and strong. Judging by the feel of her, she would be nice and tender. With a grunt of effort, he pulled her over so she was facing him her eyes closed in a grimace.

That was when Seras' eyes snapped open and she hissed like a cobra. Walker fell back in surprise as she lunged for him, batting the crossbow out of his hands where it clattered to the ground noisily. He automatically tried to scrabble backward away from her but her bandaged hand shot out faster than his eyes could track to grip tightly around his throat.

Walker clawed at the hand restricting his breath, even as Seras effortlessly rose to her feet pulling him up with her. She kept lifting him until his boots where just trailing the ground.

"You sick sonovabitch!" Seras half-growled half-hissed as she struggled to talk properly with a bolt through her throat. Walker gurgled something that she guessed meant what the hell are you? Seras relaxed her grip just enough to allow him not to blackout. He was going to suffer for this and it would do no good to have him passing out from lack of oxygen.

She reached up with her free hand and gripped the bolt in her throat; all the time Walker's eyes followed that hand. Giving it a tug she pulled it free complete with a small splatter of blood that splashed against him and then dropped the steel bolt to the ground.

"I'm glad Zoe can't see this." Seras stated fingering the wound experimentally knowing that it was not going to heal very fast the way she was, at least she could stop it from bleeding. "I'm going to tear you apart you piece of trash!"

Walker began thrashing in her grip when she bared her fangs, fear evident in his eyes. His booted feet struck her in the stomach and she hissed before shaking him violently.

"Stop that." Seras glared. She glanced over at her shoulder with the other bolt sticking out of it. Seras growled and proceeded to remove that bolt as well. "Now where were we?" she asked rhetorically turning back to Walker only to have the blade of his knife slam into her left eye.

Seras yelled in surprise and pain, dropping Walker and clutching at the damage. The blade had embedded itself deep into her skull and hurt like hell. She could feel blood dripping between her fingers, flowing from the wound.

Walker used the distraction to scrabble away on all fours towards the crossbow.

With a roar crossed between anger and pain, Seras yanked the blade out and dropped it while concentrating on stopping the flow of blood. She turned her remaining eye towards Walker who paled at the sight of pure anger blazing in that crimson orb that promised pain. He managed to raise the weapon and pointed it shakily towards the irate vampire.

"You think that toy is actually going to save you?" Seras laughed evilly her teeth suddenly pointy like a shark's before striding towards the psycho, murder in her eye.

Walker let loose with the last bolt hoping against hope that this one would stop this monster. Seras laughed and did not even try to dodge the bolt that slammed into her chest and continued approaching Walker who backed away with each of her footsteps closer.

"I told you..." Seras managed to say before a serious pain flared in her chest. It hurt far more than one metal bolt should, almost as much as being stabbed with a blessed blade. She glanced down even as she felt her legs turning to rubber.

"Oh...crap...," she stated as the pressure welled up and entered her throat before she vomited blood. She wobbled as she held one hand to her mouth. Her vision blurred and refocused as she pulled the hand back covered in the blood she had coughed up.

_He hit...my heart_, Seras thought strangely emotionlessly as her legs finally buckled under her sending her crashing backwards to the ground. She stared up at the ceiling in surprise. _Thankfully...I'm not a normal vampire_, Seras thought in sickly amusement. _Otherwise I'd really be dead_.

As she looked up, Walker's shaken face appeared and looked down at her in wonder. She tried to raise a hand to ward him off but her body was no longer responding.

"Bastard..." She managed to cough.

------------

"Seras!" Zoe shouted as the doors slammed shut with a clunk and she was plunged into freezing darkness. She lay there stunned for a moment in the darkness before remembering where she was.

Zoe dragged herself to her knees, trying to make anything out. Despite being in total darkness, shapes began to slowly to form for her. She could just make out the hanging carcasses that she was in the middle of. If she had thought about it, she would have wondered how she was able to make anything out in zero light.

"My pack!" Zoe exclaimed spotting the shape by the door. She had a flashlight in there. The girl crawled over and began fumbling with the backpack. She was now becoming quickly aware of the cold in here.

Finally, she got the pack open and after a quick search, her fingers closed around the familiar shape.

"Yes!" Zoe stated turning the flashlight on. She swung the beam towards the large doors and was disappointed that there seemed to be no way to open them from the inside. She knew instinctively she had to get out of here.

Standing up she swung the light around the freezer. Between the hanging carcasses, the chill and the frozen heads to the rear all made Zoe free more than slightly creeped out. She almost expected the remains to begin thrashing about from their hooks.

"Gotta get moving." Zoe told herself shaking the fear from her head. Once again, she swung the light around this time searching for any other way out. She almost missed the small ventilation cover that was just above the shelves with the heads on.

"It just would wouldn't it." Zoe gulped. The girl made her way over to the rear, making sure she avoided touching the carcasses. She then climbed up the shelving. Placing the torch onto the top shelf and then her hands, she grimaced at what she had to do now.

"Sorry." Zoe said as she pushed the nearest frozen heads off where they clunked onto the floor. She then reached out to grab the vent cover. With a yank she pulled it off easily enough even in spite of the frost. That too was thrown to the ground.

Zoe stared into the hole and wondered if she could fit through it. If she did, it was going to be tight. There was only one way to find out she decided pulling herself onto the top shelf flattening herself to it, so she could drag herself into the vent.

She fit, barely and she found herself glad for once at being small for her age. Once inside she began to make slow progress down the shaft, forced to push herself forward only by her feet.

After a short time, she saw a faint light shining up into the vent and with renew vigour pushed herself to it. Looking down she could just make out a faintly lit room. There was a hum of power emanating from below her.

With a bash of the flashlight to the vent cover, she sent it tumbling down. Zoe rolled herself over and slowly eased herself out the vent backwards. She stopped halfway out and hung down; pressing her feet as hard as she could against the vent walls to prevent herself falling and then secured the flashlight in a pocket.

She reached up with her hands, gripped the edge of the vent with her fingers and then pulled her legs free to end up hanging from the vent by her hands. Letting go she dropped easily to the ground.

She stood up slowly and turned around examining the room. There was only a single light lighting the room. The dim light was enough to reveal a barrel in one corner; it had a flammable label on it. There was one strip door leading out of the room and opposite it was something Zoe recognised as a powercell, a thick wire trailed over to the cell. She had seen a similar one back at the Acropolis, or course that one was larger. In one corner of the room was an old metal locker that lay half overturned against one wall and at the foot of the locker were piles of old dirty clothes.

The only way she could go was through the hanging plastic strips so that was where she headed. Drawing near caused her to pause, the smell of decay coming from inside the room was stronger as she drew closer.

Zoe carefully pushed the strips of plastic aside and poked her head through. The first thing to catch her attention was the large ornate dark wood table in the centre complete with matching chairs. The table had four places set and Zoe could make out what looked like meat on plates. She could not be certain though from the condition of it and the dirt that covered the place. The place looked like a sick parody of a family dining room.

A faint groan drew her attention to the furthest corner of the room and she had to hold her hands to prevent herself gasping. There were three shapes standing in the corner, all had their backs to Zoe. The girl knew instantly they were zombies and was glad they had not noticed her.

From what she could make out, one had once been a woman. The other two were smaller, just bigger than herself and she guessed they had been children. One a boy and the other a girl she reckoned by the way they were dressed.

Zoe carefully backed away.

Once back in the other room she desperately tried to think of a way out. The vent was too high to reach now and she doubted she could get past the zombies without attracting their attention, especially if the door in the other room turned out to be locked.

Zoe turned to pile of clothing on the floor. She wandered over and crouched down to examine the clothing revealing they were little more than rags. Suspicious dark stains covered much of them. Zoe pulled a few carefully aside, a nametag with Walker's Meat on it made her pause. There was a little weight in one of the pockets.

Zoe reached into the pocket and withdrew an old wallet and a lighter. She blinked and slowly turned to the barrel with the flammable label. If she could tip that over into the room and set it alight maybe she could kill the zombies.

The girl dropped the wallet and moved over to the barrel to give it an experimental push. It barely budged no matter how hard she strained, not surprising with it being almost as tall as she was and seemed completely full.

Sighing Zoe turned away, that was not going to work. Turning back to the corner she stared at the locker and a plan began forming in her head. She quickly hopped over to the locker and tested the door. It opened and she examined the inside.

"Yes!" Zoe exclaimed in a whisper and grinned. Grabbing the longest rag she could find off of the floor she ran back over to the barrel. Standing on tiptoes, she managed to unscrew the large red plastic cap. Once the cap was off, she was assaulted by the smell of the liquid inside. It made her eyes water.

She dropped one end of the rag into the hole until it settled in the liquid and then draped the rest of the rag down the barrel. Flicking the lighter a few times she was rewarded with a flame that she pressed to the rag, which blackened before catching fire. Zoe watched the flame slowly begin to consume the rag and tossed the lighter away. She ran quickly over to the locker and climbed in. With a tug, she shut the door.

"Now...I just need to attract them." Zoe stated to herself and with a gulp deactivated her vest.

------------

"Bastard!" Seras hissed as her head bounced off another step. Walker had tied her feet together and was dragging her deeper into his warehouse. He had also tied her hands together, not that she could do much any longer, not with what could be considered a stake through the heart anyway. It was a testament to her strength that she was even still conscious at the current moment in time.

"Quiet!" Walker commanded his face red from the exertion of dragging Seras. "I don't know what Government program created you. Not that it matters, in the end everyone's just meat."

"You're sick!" Seras growled.

"I'm sick?" Walker grinned stopping beside a bench. "Look around you. The entire world is sick!"

"You will regret this!" Seras stated forcing her remaining eye to focus on him. Her vision kept blurring and she was having trouble focusing on anything for long.

"Will I?" He leaned down and hefted her over his shoulder. He stood up before dumping her unceremoniously onto her back on the bench. Seras could not see what he was doing until he turned back to her carrying a handheld electric saw, the type usually used to cut wood. He pressed the button a few quick times making the stained blade whirl up violently.

"Why?" Seras asked finally after watching the blade spin, knowing what he was planning. Normally having her head cut off would not phase her but in her current condition she did not know if she could survive that. "What sick pleasure do you get from this?"

"Pleasure?" Walker stated sounding genuinely confused. "Nothing personal. I'm just feeding my family. You see, they all got sick. We were starving and then one day my darling Lily attacked one of the workers. They tried to kill my Lily and I was forced to save her. After that she wouldn't eat anything until I left one of the carcasses near her."

Seras stared at him finally figuring everything out. He was crazy. His family had died but had kept moving as zombies and he obviously refused to see it.

"Walker, they're dead! They're zombies!"

"Shut up!" Walker shouted at her his face a picture of rage. "They're just ill! I just need to keep feeding them and they'll get better! And you're next on the menu!"

Walker held the button down and the blade spun around. He lowered the saw towards Seras' neck. She tried to move but could not. Seras closed her eye wondering if she would survive.

A sudden loud and flat boom shook the building. The lights flickered before dying and so did the saw. Seras opened her eye wondering what was going on.

"What the hell?" Walker asked shaking the saw wondering why it had stopped working. "No!" he tossed the saw away in fury.

"Seems you're having some bad luck!" Seras laughed. Walker spun on her.

"You! What have you done?"

"Nothing but I wish I had." Seras chuckled at his expression.

"You bitch!" Walker grabbed the steel bolt sticking from her chest and yanked it causing Seras to shriek in renewed pain. Blood began flowing from the wound once again. Seras was in agony as he twisted the bolt and her shriek trailed off as her vision faded.

_Zoe!_ Was Seras' last thought before blacking out.

------------

"Are you _certain_ this is the place where the trail ends?" Dirge asked Nephthys beside him as they stood looking at the large warehouse before them.

"Yes."

"Is that yes or yes mostly like the other time?" Dirge asked reminding Nephthys of her loosing the trail once or twice.

"Yes completely." Nephthys answered stiffly.

"Well...if you're certain this time." Dirge turned towards her. "I don't want to spend hours searching for them if they're actually in another building across the damned street."

"I think you'll find..."

Nephthys had her reply cut short as an explosion ripped through the wall of the warehouse further down. Smoke began billowing out even as the remains of bricks rained down on the street and a large metal locker also came flying out of the hole where it bounced across the street sparks trailing from impacts.

"Whoa!" Dirge stated cleverly.

"...that this is the place." She finished.

------------

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea_, Zoe thought as she lay stunned inside the locker. The moment she had deactivated her vest the zombies in the other room had came running. Within less than a minute, they had been clawing and banging on the metal box that held the elusive smell of living flesh.

Then the barrel had exploded. It had been deafening even though she had her hands over her ears at the time. The locker had been thrown who knew how far with her inside being bashed around. Then the smoke had started coming in and now she was coughing and trying to prise the door open. Unfortunately for her the door had jammed somehow and she could not open it.

Finally starting to get her wits back Zoe shook her head and rubbed a finger in her ears, trying to stop the ringing.

"Zoe..."

Zoe blinked in surprise. She had heard Seras calling out for her and she sounded like she was in trouble.

"Seras!" Zoe shouted and started kicking at the door. The first kick did nothing, the second left a dent and the third smashed the door open. It swung open and clattered against the battered side of the now dented and blackened locker.

The grinning features of a zombie greeted Zoe as she sat up. A familiar large and blue skinned one.

"Dirge?" Zoe gaped like a fish out of water.

"Zoe?" Dirge asked just as confused his voice deep and comforting. "Do you always travel in a box?"

"Dirge!" Zoe exclaimed hugging the zombie. His sarcastic comment confirmed his identify.

Dirge blinked taken aback by the display of affection, unsure exactly what to do he just allowed Zoe to hang onto him. It really was her and she smelt...good.

"Oh crap!" Dirge stated pushing Zoe away from him as he was suddenly very hungry. "Your vest!"

"Oh!" Zoe realised what he meant and quickly pressed the button to reactivate it. "Sorry about that. I needed to attract some zombies to me so I could kill them." Zoe grinned.

"Uh huh." Dirge eyeballed her not quite believing her. "Nice going kid, now every zombie within five miles will have caught a whiff of a Zoe buffet and will be heading this way."

"I don't think that matters." Nephthys' accented voice stated from behind Zoe and the girl spun around.

"Nephthys!"

"Hello sweetie." The Egyptian zombie said with a smile. "The explosion will have attracted enough attention."

"Aww perfect." Dirge stated helping Zoe climb out of her projectile. She glanced around realising she was in the middle of the street. She had been flung all this way? A movement beside Dirge drew her attention to the hellish looking hound beside him.

"Cerberus!" Zoe rushed over to end up cuddling up to the undead dog. Cerberus grinned as only he could and looked like he was enjoying the attention.

"Aww how sweet." Dirge stated sounding sickened. "Hate to break up the reunion and all but where's the vampire?"

"Ohmygawd! Seras!" Zoe stood up quickly pointing towards the warehouse. "She's hurt inside!"

"Now _that_, I don't believe." Dirge stated crossing his arms across his broad chest.

"Come on! We have to save her!" Zoe shouted running back towards the building. Dirge and Nephthys exchanged a look of disbelief before giving chase.

Once over to the fire escape she had only recently climbed up Zoe jumped caught the first rung. The girl scrabbled up like Jackie Chang. Nephthys leapt up and caught the railings that ran along the fire escape even as Zoe climbed the ladder. With a flick that made it look easy, she flipped up and over the railing.

"Up we go." Dirge stated picking Cerberus up and lifting him high enough that the dog could get his paws onto the fire escape. Dirge then climbed up the ladder slowly making sure the dog had a platform.

Once up the group followed Zoe as she led them to the entrance and they piled into the warehouse. Zoe did not stop and was off down the stairs to ground level. She instinctively knew where Seras was.

"Wait up Zoe!" Dirge called after her, jumped over the railings and gave chase. Nephthys appeared beside him.

Walker stepped out of the strip door and paused in surprise at the sight of Zoe and one rather large zombie.

"You!" Zoe glared pointing at him. "What have you done with Seras?"

Walker's eyes widened and he fired his crossbow again at what he thought was the most dangerous target. The bolt sailed true and with a meaty thunk embedded itself into Dirge's massive chest.

Dirge looked down. He poked the bolt as if not believing he was seeing it. He then looked back up at Walker in annoyance.

"Hey buddy! Do you have _any_ idea how hard this stuff is to fix?" Dirge growled pointing at his chest. Walker backed away.

"Dirge! He's the one that hurt Seras!" Zoe said. "He's got bodies in the freezer as well!"

"Really?" Dirge rumbled watching the dirty and smelly human backing away. "Sic 'im." Dirge grinned giving the command to Cerberus who stepped forward growling. Walker finally broke, turned and sprinted back through the strip door with a rather large undead hound chasing him.

"Seras! I'm coming!" Zoe shouted rushing ahead.

"Zoe wait!" Dirge exclaimed and watched as she ignored him and sprinted into the other room. "Glad to see she hasn't changed at all." He shrugged.

"Hmm?" Nephthys grinned as they gave pursuit.

Both the zombies paused once through the strip door. Zoe was standing by a bench, a look of horror on her face as she stared down at Seras.

Dirge and Nephthys both walked over slowly and stared down at the vampire. Seras lay completely still, a pool of blood below her and a matching bolt to the one in Dirge's chest sticking out of hers.

"Seras?" Dirge asked stepping over. He could now see half her face was also coated in blood that looked like it had came from the wound in her left eye. "Come on vampire pull yourself back together." Dirge poked Seras' side experimentally.

"She can't!" Zoe exclaimed finally. "She's really hurt!"

"How the hell can she be hurt?" Dirge asked gruffly. "We all saw her get blown to little bitty tiny pieces. She seemed have survived that just fine. Come on ya lazy vampire, move your carcass!"

Seras did not even twitch.

"You don't understand!" Zoe said tears welling in her eyes. "She's ill. We were going to find her coffin so she could sleep and get better! She can't heal herself anymore until she rests!"

"You're...serious?" Dirge finally said and took another look at the still vampire. "Awww perfect!"

------------

Walker ran as if the hounds of hell were chasing him, which was not too far off from the truth. The huge dog growled as it gained on him. He tried his best to avoid it, weaving between benches as he ran towards another door.

Cerberus got into range and leapt at him, slamming into his back and dragging him to the ground. Walker trashed as best as he could in an attempt to keep its slavering jaws away from him.

He screamed in pain as the dog's jaws finally found and clamped around his forearm. Cerberus began shaking his head from side to side tearing deeply into walker's flesh. Speckles of blood splattered around the floor. He kicked with his boots against the dogs head, again and again but it would not let go.

He finally reached for his knife and slashed at Cerberus' head. The dog saw the movement and let go to jump out of the human's range and Walker's slash went wide. He had missed but was free. Pulling himself to his feet, he dived through the door, reached back and slammed it shut.

There was a loud impact as something big slammed against the door. Walker spun, his arm dripping blood and ran towards the family room. He had to rescue his wife and kids from the monsters.

As he approached, he slowed down as fear gripped his heart. The door had been blown off and was still burning in the middle of the floor. He picked his way past that and stepped into what was left of the dining room.

"Nooo." He moaned seeing the devastation. Everything was gone or burning, the entire room blackened. What had once been a wall had disappeared and he could see outside. "No!"

Walker stumbled over the wreckage and out into the street. He looked around unable to see anything left of his family. _The monsters had killed them!_ He thought in depression sinking to his knees.

"Caw!"

He blinked and raised his head slowly to see an undead crow sitting on some of the loose bricks from the shattered wall. It was the last thing he saw as a bullet hit him square in the forehead ad he fell to the ground lifelessly.

"That's one less human to deal with." Gallows stated his grinning skull-like face in a permanent grin as he watched his bird flutter down to enjoy its meal of eyeballs from his vantage point across the street and high above the warehouse. "Now where did cutie go?"

**Chapter 9**

"Soooooo..." Dirge finally asked as they stood around the bloodied bench where Seras lay. "Is she..." Dirge let the question hang not quite willing to finish the sentence.

"Dead?" Nephthys stated stepping closer. She leant over Seras and gave a cursory glance at the vampire's wounds. "Clinically yes...but I truly do not know." She stared at the metal bolt sticking from Seras' chest. "There is a lot of blood from that wound..." she pointed at Seras' stained top. "At a glance, I suspect it is piercing her heart. I know very little about her species only that they were a supposed myth and consumed blood." She straightened back up and looked down at Zoe and then over to Dirge. "After seeing what she can do...I would be surprised this could kill her, for want of a better word."

"It's in her heart?" Dirge rubbed his jaw. "That's not good, if you believe the stories about staking vampires through the heart to kill them."

"This is a method to kill her kind?" Nephthys pondered. "Then that is not good."

"Help her..." Zoe pleaded grabbing hold of Nephthys. "Please!"

"I'll do my best sweetheart." Nephthys told the girl. "But I do not know if I can truly help her." Turning to Dirge, she asked. "You seem to know more about vampires than I. What do you suggest?"

"Hey I'm no expert on vampires or nothing." Dirge waved his hands. "Just read a few books okay. And they were fiction anyhow."

"Please..." Zoe looked at Dirge with a pleading look that would even soften a zombie's heart.

"Fine...I'll think of something." Dirge sighed. He glanced down and did a double take realising there was a bolt still embedded in his own chest. He had forgotten about that completely. "Well, we could try pulling the bolt out first." Dirge stated yanking the bolt stuck in his chest out.

"Is that wise? What if she starts bleeding once more?" Nephthys asked as Dirge dropped the offending bolt.

"If she's dead already what's the worst that could happen?"

"True." Nephthys agreed and passed her six-foot scythe to Dirge. "Hold this." The Egyptian zombie gripped the bolt with her right hand and used her left to press down against Seras' sternum. She steadied herself and then with a quick and smooth tug pulled the bolt out. The bolt came free with a wet sucking noise and a small splatter of blood.

Nephthys straighten up holding the bloodied bolt. Everyone watched Seras intently as the crimson liquid coating the bolt dripped slowly off it. Seras did not move.

"Any other ideas?" Nephthys asked placing the bolt down beside the seemingly dead vampire.

"Not really." Dirge sighed. "I guess CPR is out?"

"Tell me, is there anything else at all that may help mentioned in those books?"

Zoe tuned out her zombie friends conversation and stared at Seras' still form, worried for her friend. Seras was not dead yet, somehow, some feeling deep inside, a form of connection to the vampire told her this. She could feel it.

She glanced over at Dirge and Nephthys. Dirge was beginning to look frustrated and worried, while Nephthys remained calm as they conversed in hushed tones. Zoe immediately recognised they were trying to avoid having her overhearing; she had witnessed it many times in the Acropolis. She was not stupid hearing the word dead spoke more than once.

"She's not dead." Zoe stated in little more than a whisper, refusing to believe what Dirge and Nephthys might be thinking.

_She requires blood._

The words just seemed to pop into existence inside Zoe's head, whispered in a voice not her own.

_Who's there?_ Zoe glanced around carefully while mentally asking, knowing instinctively this voice was not a part of her. It felt like the few times Seras had contacted her telepathically.

The voice chuckled evilly sending a shiver down her spine before replying. _Merely an old friend of your servant._

_Who are you? What do you want?_

_Who I am is irrelevant. What I want is not your concern. The question you should ask is yourself little girl is...what do 'I' want?_

_To save Seras._ Zoe replied without hesitation.

_Why?_ The voice asked its tone made her think of someone grinning to a joke only they understood. _She is merely an undead monster. What reason do you, a living human have to want to help a predator of your kind? There are many who would congratulate you on letting such a walking corpse finally die._

_Seras is more alive than most people I know!_ Zoe clenched her fists at the voice's tone. _Seras. Dirge. Nephthys. They're willing to fight to save me! To protect something they believe in. Not like the others in the Acropolis. They wouldn't give up on me and I won't give up on them!_

The voice did not reply immediately and Zoe stood there waiting in silence.

_Congratulations little girl. You have passed a second test. Now...can you pass a third?_

_Test? _Zoe asked with a frown. _What test?_

_You talk the talk. Can you walk the walk? Seras Victoria needs blood to survive, she barely hangs onto this world in her weakened state. Again, she shows her true strength...you know what you can do to save her._

_She needs blood, to feed, to heal..._Zoe then realised what the voice was hinting at. _Then I just have to cut myself and give her some blood._ Zoe replied confidently.

_Careful little girl. As hurt as she is now she will require more blood than you can give to heal fully,_ the voice warned. _You can supply her with enough for her to survive long enough to reach her haven. The problem you will have is getting her to stop drinking_, the voice told her bursting into laughter. _She will react only on instinct at first...as her master you will have to exert your will onto her and prevent her killing you. Of course, if you are too scared..._

_I am not afraid! _Zoe grabbed the bolt Nephthys had removed from Seras off the bench causing both the undead next to her to forget their conversation and stare.

"Zoe? What are you doing?" Dirge asked first taking a half step towards her.

"Seras needs blood." Zoe stated opening her left palm and holding it towards her. She positioned the sharp tip of the bolt ready even as Dirge's eyes widened with realisation.

"Dirge! Stop her." Nephthys shouted even as she moved to intercept.

Zoe saw the Egyptian zombie moving towards her. She reacted by diving under the bench and popping out the other side, still holding the bolt.

"Zoe don't be stupid!" Dirge growled making to move around the bench. "Give me that."

"I'm going to save her." Zoe told them. She could see Dirge was moving around one end of the bench and Nephthys was inching her way around the other. Zoe knew they would stop her if she did not go through with it now and stabbed the tip into her palm. It was strange Zoe thought barely feeling anything at jabbing the bolt into her palm. She scratched the bolt down, drawing a short jagged tear into her palm. Zoe dropped the bolt immediately as blood welled up along the wound.

Both zombies were moving fast towards her now so she quickly placed her hand above Seras' mouth and clenched her fingers shut, forcing blood to the wound. Zoe watched in fascination as it seemed to take and age for enough blood to gather at the bottom of her fist to form a bead that grew slowly in size before finally dripping off.

The first drop landed on the vampire's lower lip, the second disappeared into her mouth.

"Zoe! You idiot!" Dirge rumbled reaching towards her. His cold fingers gripped down on her arm near her elbow and he tried to pull her away. He did not succeed though as Seras seemed to suddenly explode off the bench and clamp her teeth into Zoe's wrist, easily tearing through her skin.

Zoe hissed in surprised pain and clenched her teeth as Seras began eagerly sucking on the wounds she had just torn into Zoe's arm.

"Oh crap!" Dirge stated in shock letting his grip go slack. He stared at the sight in morbid fascination and a guilty feeling of wanting to join in.

"Dirge! Get her off the girl!" Nephthys commanded grabbing Seras by the head and trying unsuccessfully to prise the vampire's jaws open.

Dirge shook off his hunger and rushed forward as well. Like Nephthys, he began trying to get his fingers into a position to get leverage to pull the vampire off.

"Seras! Let go of her!" Dirge shouted at the vampire hoping somehow that would get through to her.

Zoe groaned in pain, Seras was not being careful at all. Then again, the voice had warned her about this. She focused her attention away from the pain and both zombies trying to pull the vampire off her arm and concentrated. She had to force Seras back somehow.

_Seras! That's enough!_ Zoe directed her thoughts towards Seras. The vampire did not react at all and continued drinking. Zoe could feel the blood being pulled from her body through the wounds, seemingly faster than should be possible.

_Seras stop!_ Zoe tried again as she began to feel slightly dizzy.

"Let go Seras!" Zoe heard Dirge shouting sounding strangely far away, as the noise of her heartbeat seemed to grow louder in her ears.

_Seras...please._ Zoe tried again weakly as the dizziness grew and she began to feel a chill. _This isn't going to work_, Zoe thought thinking over the words that had said to her. She had to force her will onto Seras, not ask her to stop.

Zoe focused all her will towards the vampire and slowly a bizarre feeling of being in two places at once washed over her. She was standing having her life drained and laid on the bench draining blood from a body at the same time.

"I. Am. Your. Master! Let go now!" Zoe growled aloud, forcing Seras' jaws apart. It took every ounce of willpower she had but as quickly as Seras had clamped onto her she suddenly let go and Zoe fell back free. Seras also collapsed back onto the bench and lay still once again.

Both Nephthys and Dirge stood frozen, their hands held almost comically where they had just been trying to prise Seras' jaw open. Zoe wobbled feeling very woozy suddenly and was lucky that Nephthys recovered her wits first and managed to grab Zoe before she toppled.

The undead woman carefully sank to her knees holding Zoe closely to her. Nephthys grabbed the arm Seras had bitten and quickly raised it above Zoe's head, elevating it. Blood slowly continued to trickle from the wounds. She pressed her fingers to the large puncture wounds in Zoe's wrist, trying to stem the flow.

"Zoe, do you have medical supplies?" Nephthys asked the girl quickly. There was no time to berate her for this as she was still bleeding.

"Some stuff in my...backpack." Zoe blinked to try to clear the spots in front of her eyes.

"Where is it?"

"The freezer." Zoe whispered feeling very weak.

"Dirge..."

"Already on it!" Dirge stated rushing out the room past Cerberus who had just reappeared. The dog blinked and watched Dirge rush past before licking the few remaining specks of blood off his muzzle. Cerberus cocked his head in confusion. His master was always rushing around when the girl was near.

Nephthys was examining the wound even before Dirge had left the room by the strip door.

_How odd_, she thought as the wound to Zoe's palm looked hours old and not minutes. She carefully moved one finger from one of the puncture wounds. The hole looked raw, bruised and wet, yet was no longer bleeding anywhere near what she had expected. In fact, if she did not know better she suspected the wounds were already healing. _That is not normal for a human_, Nephthys frowned. _Could it be caused by the vampire?_

"How do you feel?" Nephthys asked Zoe planning to keep her awake.

"A bit cold." Zoe replied with a light shudder.

_How much blood did the vampire manage to drain in such a short time for her to feel cold?_ Nephthys pondered. It was not a good sign and she cursed the fact she could not feel anything physical any longer. She really needed to know what Zoe's pulse was doing.

"I found it!" Dirge hollered running back into the room. He rushed over to kneel down next to Nephthys and Zoe.

"Find the supplies. Quickly." Nephthys told him even as he had begun to rummage through the backpack.

"You don't need to tell me." Dirge complained pulling out a tin of beans. He placed that on the floor and started again, this time he pulled out a packet of mints. "Aww screw this!" He growled having no luck at finding things when he could not see them. He picked the pack up and emptied the contents on to the floor with a clatter.

"Gotcha!" Dirge swiped the packet of a bandage strip off the floor and passed it to Nephthys.

"Those too." She said pointing to the sterile wipes. "Open them for me."

Dirge fumbled with the packet having trouble tearing it. "Damned things." He grumbled after finally getting it open. He held it towards Nephthys who pulled the wipe free. She proceeded to rub it over Zoe's palm and the bite on her arm.

"Oww." Zoe groaned.

"Yeah, you should of thought of that earlier." Dirge stated gruffly, however his face showed his concern.

_Congratulations Zoe Olesia Elgin_, the voice stated startling Zoe again. _You will live up to your name_. Nephthys mistook the girl's flinch as something she caused with cleaning the wounds.

"Did...I pass?" Zoe asked aloud not realising no one else could hear the voice.

_The countess and I look forward to meeting you in the future. Next time we talk will be in person...man's defender._

"Yes sweetie." Nephthys replied thinking she was hallucinating due to blood loss. She crumpled the wipe, dropped it and looked at Dirge. "Hold her arm for me."

"Got it." Dirge took Zoe's arm and held it steady while Nephthys began to wrap the wounds. "That was a seriously stupid thing to do." Dirge told Zoe.

"Yeah, but it worked." Zoe replied with a faint cheeky grin as she was beginning to feel better. "Seras should be okay now."

"How do you know that?" Dirge asked eyeing Zoe. "Did Seras tell you how to fix her?"

"Kinda."

"And what was that I am your master stuff?" Dirge leant closer, curiosity burning in his eyes.

"Oh, that. Seras chose me to be her master. No biggy."

"Chose you to be her master?" Nephthys asked tying the bandages off. "What exactly does that entail?"

"Weeeell...I can make her do things for me. I guess."

"Like a servant?" Nephthys reached down and picked up one of the cans of drink that lay dumped on the floor from the girl's backpack. "You may release her arm now Dirge."

Nephthys opened the can as Dirge lowered Zoe's arm carefully. "Drink." Nephthys commanded holding the can to Zoe's lips.

"I don't feel like..."

"You have lost a lot of liquid just now. You must replace it quickly. Now do as I say." Nephthys held the can steady.

"Okay..." Zoe agreed not feeling up to an argument for once. She lifted her undamaged hand to control the can. Nephthys did not release her hold on it although she did allow Zoe to control how much she drank. While Zoe drank, Nephthys examined the bandages on the girl's arm. There was one small spot of red beginning to show through the white material but nowhere as much as there should have been from the type of wounds she had received.

_She has already ceased bleeding_, Nephthys thought. _Not normal. Has the vampire done something to her in these last six years? What exactly does being a vampire's master entail?_

"That's enough for now." She said aloud, not mentioning her suspicions and taking the can away. "Rest a while then you will finish this."

"Okay." Zoe agreed as Nephthys moved her off herself and onto the floor. The undead woman placed the can beside Zoe as she sat examining her bandaged forearm and hand.

"Now, will you explain what you're..." Dirge began asking.

"Ahhh! Walker! You Goddamned bloody bastard!" Seras suddenly screamed out startling Zoe and causing Dirge and Nephthys to look at her in surprise as she twitched as if trying to sit up. Seras hissed angrily before she began making choking noises and with a hacking cough coughed up darkened and congealing blood.

"Seras!" Zoe exclaimed happily and attempted to stand only to have Nephthys prevent her moving. "What?"

"You _will_ stay here and rest." Nephthys told the girl, her voice indicating clearly that she would do just that. Dirge had already made his way back over to Seras.

"Seras?" Dirge asked leaning over the vampire as she coughed again, much weaker this time. Seras' remaining eye fluttered open and tried to focus on Dirge, she could barely make anything out aside from a skull-like face grinning down at her. She recognised that face, although he was missing his large scythe.

"Ohhh..." Seras groaned. "So you've finally come for me eh?"

"What?"

"Heehee...Death you look like a guy I met a few years ago." Seras giggled as her eye focused a bit more. "Can I go see my Mum and Dad now?"

Dirge glanced over and shrugged at Nephthys who had also moved close.

"I think she is delirious from loss of blood." Nephthys commented all the while taking mental notes and examining the vampire's wounds. The wound on her chest was slowly leaking blood again. "How human. Dirge I need more bandages."

"Wha?" dirge blinked. "Oh right I'll just conjure up some more bandages with my magic wand."

"Just give me the ones you have around your wrist." Nephthys sighed.

"Oh...They ain't very clean you know." Dirge stated unwrapping one of his wrists, careful not to tear the old bandages.

"I do not believe that will matter." She took them from him and tore a chunk off, which she then rolled up tightly. Nephthys stuck the rolled up bandage into the hole in Seras' chest with a few pokes that drew hisses from the vampire.

"Oy! That bloody well hurts!" Seras groaned. "I thought things weren't supposed to hurt once you died?"

"That is because you are only a little dead." Nephthys joked. "Dirge, lift her a little for me."

"Like this?" Dirge asked lifting Seras' shoulders off the bench who groaned at being moved.

"That is correct." Nephthys said as she began expertly wrapping the bandages from Dirge around Seras' chest, just under her breasts tightly. "This will either stop the bleeding or slow it down. Either way, it gives us more time to work something else out."

"I'm not dead yet?" Seras finally asked in confusion as Dirge lay her back down on the bench.

"Not yet." Dirge confirmed as Seras focused on his face and finally recognised him.

"Dirge?"

"The one and only." Dirge grinned and held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Seras leaned her head back, closed her eye and groaned in pain. "What happened? Where's Zoe?" she asked weakly.

"I'm here!" Zoe shouted suddenly appearing beside Nephthys and taking Seras' hand. Seras rolled her head towards Zoe's voice and reopened her eye. "You'll be all right now?"

Nephthys frowned at the girl, partly in annoyance at Zoe's ability to ignore commands but mostly in suspicion at how fast she seemed to be recovering. As Zoe did not seem to be in any danger of collapsing, she decided to let it be.

"I...dunno..." Seras sighed feeling weaker than she had ever been before. "I'm a mess."

"I'll say." Dirge commented with a grin. "You look like an extra from a zombie holocaust movie."

"Funny bugger." Seras moaned. "Where did Walker go?"

"The dirty guy?" Dirge asked.

"Yeah."

"I set Cerberus on him. He's dog food right now, right boy?"

Cerberus whined trying to get across the fact the human had escaped.

"Good." Seras stated with an angry hiss. "I wish I had gotten him. I would have taught him the true meaning of suffering."

"What did he try to do?" Nephthys asked. "Aside from killing you two?"

"He had a collection of bodies in that freezer." Dirge indicated behind him with his thumb. "Looks to me like he's been killing humans for food." He grinned morbidly thinking about what he and Nephthys had been putting in their freezers and joked. "I mean come on, what kind of sicko keeps bodies in the freezer?"

"His wife and kids died years ago." Seras spoke quietly, her eye closed again. "He was doing it for them really, refused to see they had died."

"Oh." Dirge stated.

"I see. A most saddening tale of the death humans can weave. I feel sad for him." Nephthys said.

"Don't you dare say that?" Seras growled fixing her eye on Nephthys. "He was pathetic! A piece of trash! He deserved everything that happened from the moment he killed the first living person to feed his zombiefied wife!"

Nephthys frowned disapprovingly at Seras. "It is a tragedy I agree. Although, even you should be able to understand why he did what he did."

"I understand perfectly." Seras laughed humourlessly. "He was a pathetic human who gave into madness to escape the real world. Instead of fighting to save the remaining people around him...he killed them for his dead family! Pathetic giving up so easily!"

"I beg to differ. He cannot be forgiven for what he did, but to his mind he was doing everything for the people he cared for." Nephthys argued.

"There is no excuse for trash like him!"

"I disagree." Nephthys folded her arms and fixing Seras with a stare. "You call him trash for giving into something he could not control? No one can truly understand something like what happened to him unless they go though it as well. What would a vampire know about losing family?"

"How dare you say that to me?" Seras exploded, her crimson eye suddenly blazing with enough anger that they all almost took a step back. "You know less about me than you imagine! You think I was never alive once? You think I never lost family? That I don't know what pain is? I had to watch both my mother and father die right before my eyes!"

"What happened?" Dirge asked curious about both Seras' past and why she so vehemently hated this Walker's reasons for doing what he did.

"My father was in the police force. He had been working undercover infiltrating a local gang and had ended up 'in too deep'." Seras began explaining in a quiet voice. "I was only a child at the time. They tracked my father home one night while we were having dinner. My mother took me and we hid away while my father tried to stop them. They killed Dad first and when they heard me make a noise my Mother went and faced them to distract them from finding me." Seras forced her eye closed at the memories, a crimson tear leaking from the corner. She reopened her eye and reaffixed it to Nephthys. "I could do nothing and they killed her too!"

"Oh God." Dirge stated feeling sickened.

"What did you do?" Zoe asked disturbed to find this out about Seras. She found it hard to imagine Seras as a small child who could not defend herself.

"I snapped at seeing that. Forgot all my fear and attacked them with the only thing I had at the time. A fork. I got one of them in the eye. They shot me and left me to die. I was lucky though, I was found in time and did recover. Do you know what I did? I decided I would become a police officer like my Father, so I could protect others from scum like the ones that hurt me. I did not give up! And that's why I have no sympathy for people who do!"

An uneasy silence settled over the group for a moment.

"I...see." Nephthys broke the silence, she knew Seras was telling to truth just by the way the vampire's voice had been full of emotion. "I apologise for offending you. I forget you are not like us, you remember who you were when still alive. I can see how you have been tempered into what you are. Again, I apologise."

Seras held the undead woman's gaze for a moment before nodding faintly accepting Nephthys' words. "Sorry for blowing up at you too. You couldn't have known."

"Soooo...want to explain why you two are out here in the first place?" Dirge finally asked one of the burning questions that had been bothering him every since seeing them on the monitors.

"Can I explain when we get moving again?" Seras sighed turning her head towards Dirge.

"Nope." Dirge stated crossing his arms. "Give me a cut down version now, otherwise you're going nowhere."

"Fine." Seras conceded easily. "I'm ill. I need to sleep in my coffin to get better. Can we go now?"

"Too much Nekrosis?" Dirge wondered aloud.

"Not really." Seras attempted to sit and found her body still unresponsive and gave up trying. "I kinda forgot to return to my coffin to rest. The long short of it is the longer I don't sleep in it the weaker I get. At the moment, I'm very weak." She finished speaking and Dirge was certain she sounded embarrassed.

"How weak?"

"Well...I can't even sit up now." Seras sighed. "Will you carry me?"

------------

Zora Elgin gave up trying to sleep as the massive vehicle named the Ark trundled along the highway. It was loud, warm and a bumpy ride. That combined with her worry over Zoe and being upset at Seras taking her little girl away prevented her from getting any real rest.

She sat up on the makeshift bed where she lay. Priest had given her some blankets and said she could rest on the seats lined against the wall. She had tried at least.

Zora watched Priest's people as they went about their jobs on the vehicle. Some stood by the guns lining the walls and kept a careful eye on what was outside. Others moved about, offering food and drink. They had offered Zora food but so far, she had refused, as she was not feeling hungry. Others still had been sleeping easily most likely used to the noise and movements of the Ark. She guessed they took shifts with the guarding.

It was strange she thought at seeing them talking animatedly, joking with each other and smiling. It was a vast contrast to how people worked in the Acropolis; people were often quiet and subdued almost giving the place and air of gloom and doom. Of waiting.

_Home? This is a prison where everyone is just waiting to die, _Zoe's words from the previous night came back to haunt Zora. As she sat there watching Priest's followers she began to understand the reasons behind Zoe's behaviour, or at least partially. There were many people in the Acropolis guilty of just existing day in day out, even she had been guilty of that once over…after losing her husband.

If it had not been for Soren and she guessed Father Ammon holding them together, she wondered if they all would have just given up and died before now. Almost losing Zoe six years ago had made her take an active roll on the council, snapping her out of the same mindset others exhibited. All the people on the council, even nervous Camden at least forged ahead trying to make something of their world.

Priest's people all seemed to possess a much more cheery outlook on their situation, even though they must have a harder life surviving out in the wastelands by themselves. It must be their faith in God or believing in a better future that made them happier.

This sudden insight made Zora realise why people had left with Priest those years before. Why Zoe's continuous escape attempts had occurred. They wanted something more and were willing to try for it.

Zora frowned realising that even if she brought Zoe back she would never be happy in the Acropolis. Not unless something changed…maybe once they got back, maybe she could talk with Soren and the others on the council. Maybe they could revive the lost spirit in them. Maybe if they could gain something to work towards she could make Zoe happy.

She decided she needed to talk with Priest and confirm if what she was observer was the truth. Maybe she could set something up with between him and them to give people something else to achieve.

Zora climbed to her feet using the nearest to pole to help her as she was still unsteady on her feet with the motion to the Ark. The purple-haired woman glanced up and down the aisle. The nearest person she could ask for directions was a dark skinned woman who had her hair held in tight braids and wore a pair of dusty goggles hanging around her neck.

"Excuse me." Zora spoke making her way over to the woman using the poles. "You don't happen to know where Priest is right now? I need to ask him something."

"He'll most likely be at the rear. There's a curtained off area used for surgery, he spends a lot of time there with his condition." She replied pointing behind Zora.

"Condition?"

"Oh you won't know." The woman looked sad. "He has to put up with a lot of pain sadly. Poor guy I don't know how he does it and acts so normal."

"What's wrong with him?" Zora asked surprised to hear this.

"Well…I don't really know what it is but it looks horrible." She glanced around nervously. "Really though, I shouldn't talk about it. He prefers to tell people himself. Go see him."

"Okay, thanks." Zora thanked her and turned around. She began slowly making her way towards the rear of the Ark all the time pondering what could be wrong with Priest.

As she drew closer to the rear, she spotted the large thick curtains that was the cordoned off area that they used for surgery. Zora paused just before the curtains and listened.

"I think you're going to have to have surgery again." She heard Alistair's voice say over the rumble of engines.

"I believe you are correct." Priest's voice replied before he addressed her louder. "You may come in Dr. Elgin, but you may need to brace yourself first."

Zora jumped like a child caught sneaking cookies from the cookie jar and nervously pulled the curtain aside.

"Hi Doc." Alistair greeted pulling the curtain fully aside and allowing Zora in, but blocked her view of Priest.

"Sorry…if you're busy…"

"No Doctor Elgin please come in." Priest said from behind Alistair. "In fact, you may even be able to offer assistance."

Alistair stepped aside, letting Zora in. Priest sat in what would appear to be an old dentist's chair and smiled apologetically at her as Zora felt her eyes widen in wonder and a little unease.

He was currently topless revealing his chest and arms. Zora was surprised to see that although he was as thin as she had guessed, he could not be called scrawny. What muscle he did have looked solid and he appeared to have no sign of body fat at all. His pale skin gave him an almost marble like appearance, as if he was a slim one of those Greek statues.

His muscular appearance was surprising but not as surprising as his left arm and shoulder. Starting halfway down his left pectoral muscle, large thickened black veins spread out under his skin flowing up and over his shoulder and down most of his left arm, stopping before his wrist. The muscles in his arm looked deformed, lumpy and misshapen compared to his right as if trying to push their way out of his skin. The skin on his arm looked scared as if stretched or cut into many times over.

"What is that?" Zora asked shocked stepping closer to Priest. As she drew close she realised he had needles stuck into his arm with thin plastic tubes and slowly drained a thick black liquid into a large bowl laid on the table beside him.

"I believe it is, but do not quote me on this." Priest began to speak. "A rather nasty and malignant tumour-like growth likely caused by a combination of factors unique to myself and the Nekrosis virus present in my blood."

"A cancer? Caused by Nekrosis?" Zora asked stunned leaning closer to examine Priest's arm. "How long have you had this?" she asked slipping into scientist mode.

"Partly." Priest stated watching Zora examining his arm. "As to how long I've had this affliction…around five years now."

"Five years?" Zora looked him in the eyes. "But something this malignant…"

"Should have killed me awhile back." Priest finished for her. "Yes, any normal person would have been killed by something like this. But then again, I doubt a normal person could ever catch this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"May I ask what you are a Doctor in?"

"Human Genetics." Zora replied.

"Ah. Then you may have a good idea already what is the real cause of this." Priest grinned.

"Genetic modification?" Zora asked. "Is this a side effect from some gene-therapy program?"

"In a word yes." Priest smiled. "I take it you are well aware of mitosis and the Hayflick limit?"

"Yes I am."

"Good. Like you have already guessed I have been altered at the genetic level some time ago by those I worked for." Priest smiled, careful not to drop into the other less believable parts of the technique. He knew Zora was a woman of science and trying to convince her of the Godly magic involved would be hard. "I'm what was known as a regenerator. The name probably tells you everything you need to figure out the rest."

"A regenerator?" Zora repeated. "As in tissue regeneration? Rapid healing?"

"Yes Doctor. A greatly boosted metabolism and cellular regeneration. I heal from wounds very quickly and can even survive those usually fatal to a normal human if treated in time."

"But...I've seen that attempted before. The usual effect is the increased healing and a shortened lifespan. Most human cells can only divide fifty-two times before..." Zora's eyes widened remembering Priest's earlier words. "Unless they managed to overcome the Hayflick limit. But doing that often..."

"Induces a greatly increased chance of cancer in the modified person. Ninety nine percent guaranteed in fact." Priest grinned. "Would you believe that the people who did this to me had overcome that a long time ago?"

"But it's been impossible to do yet. If it had it would have been all over the scientific community." Zora stared in wonder at Priest. "If it was done a person would be immortal."

"Not quite. I can still be killed." Priest nodded. "Although on a cellular-level I could be considered immortal." Priest gave a toothy grin. "I'm older than I look. As to why you've never heard of the research, it was kept secret as at the time there was a...shall we say hidden war going on."

"But...my God..."

"Impressive isn't it?" Priest asked. "Which brings me to my condition."

"You said they had overcome the cancer causing part." Zora stated once again examining his arm. "Then isn't this cancer?"

"No. At least not in the form you are thinking." Priest said also looking at his arm. "This was caused after being wounded fighting an undead grizzly that took us by surprise. It was the first time since the outbreak that I was hurt badly. My arm healed up as normal aside from leaving a scar, which was strange. This soon formed afterwards and has progressively gotten worse. I've done some testing and have discovered if I receive only minor damage nothing like this occurs. It is only after having a large trauma that Nekrosis gets a hold in my flesh and this is the result."

Zora frowned as she examined Priest's arm and listened to his tale. "Is this contagious?"

"I do not know, but I'd suggest using gloves if you wish to touch it." Priest warned.

"What is that matter you're draining? It does not look like blood."

"That is, at my best guess Nekrosis in a condensed form." Priest told her. "I have seen similar substances from undead we have destroyed."

"We drain his arm at most every few days. If we leave it too long he gets crippling pain." Alistair informed Zora.

"Every few days?"

"Yes. Bleeding the stuff out of my arm helps for a while, seems to slow the growth of other tissues and prevents the pain." Priest indicated the lumps. "But it still gets worse and eventually I have the worst cut out. However, it always regenerates again. I fear this will be fatal to me eventually."

"Priest, if you'll let me when we return to the Acropolis I want to have a good examination of this and your genetic structures. Maybe I can help you somehow." Zora said straightening up.

"I would be delighted if you could." Priest sent a hopeful smile at her. "I have things to do before I finally go. A job left unfinished from a better time."

"What job?" Zora wondered.

"I told you there had been a secret war going on." Priest grinned. She had taken the bait and asked the question. "What do you know of the One Night London War that occurred at the turn of the millennium?"

"Only what I learnt in high school." Zora stated. "A massive terrorist attack left London in England crippled. In only one night almost all the people of London were killed in one of the bloodiest battles every seen. Even to this day no one knows who did it."

"No one that was not there." Priest agreed.

"You weren't?" Zora gasped. Priest could not be that old.

"No I wasn't. I was still but a wee lad living in an orphanage." He grinned cheekily. "But the man who raised me died there fighting the ones responsible for most of the death that night. Although they weren't the ones who started the bloodshed they made sure they finished it. Hellsing."

"Hellsing?"

"Yes, a group that had two very dangerous individuals working for them." Priest explained. "To this day I still have not found the one responsible. But I did track the other to this continent just before the outbreak."

"How do you know they're still alive?"

"Come now Doctor. I would not have had myself modified if they were normal."

"They're similar to you then?" Zora asked wondering exactly how many almost immortals could be running around.

"In a way, but their regeneration is far more advanced than my own. And far more dangerous to other people."

"What do you mean?"

"They are...well their bodies cannot digest food and as such need to acquire substance that has already been digested. They are forced to survive on a diet of blood taken from living people." Priest told her. "You could call them vampires. Which is why I showed up at the Acropolis, where better for one of them to hide than among the people that they need to feed upon?"

"Vampire..." Zora gulped suddenly having a terrible thought. Zoe's story about Seras could be true? Could she be one of these genetically modified immortals that Priest was telling her about? It suddenly seemed to make sense but she had to be sure. "P...Priest can you describe them?"

"I can do one better." Priest smiled a triumphant smile. "I have photos and details on the weaker one. Alistair show the Doctor please."

"Sure." Alistair turned and picked up the folded photograph that just _happened_ to be nearby and handed it to Zora. She took the photograph with shaking fingers. Taking a deep breath, she carefully unfolded the old photograph and gasped recognising Seras straight away.

"No..." Zora breathed feeling the cold hand of fear grip her heart again. Seras looked exactly as she had in the Acropolis as she smiled at the camera. She looked like she not a care in the world.

"What is it?" Priest asked concerned while pretending surprise.

"She's...she's the one that took Zoe!" Zora stared at Priest in fear. "Seras Victoria. She took my little girl..."

"Then this is far more urgent than I had imagined possible." Priest stated beginning to pull the needles from his arm in a show of urgency. "We must find her quickly before anything happens to your daughter."

_Yes_, thought Priest. _Everything goes as planned_.

------------

"Comfy?" Dirge asked Seras as he currently held her on his back, carrying her in a piggyback. She had her head resting on one of Dirge's shoulders. Her arms hung lifelessly draped over his shoulders as well.

"Don't know." Seras replied weakly. "I can't feel my legs. Actually, I can only feel the pain in my chest."

"Really?" Dirge asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"Will you survive being moved?" Nephthys asked stepping closer in concern. Seras seemed even weaker than she had when she had first woken.

"Well...if I suddenly turn into dust you know I'm really dead." Seras joked with a weak chuckle.

"Don't you dare die Seras!" Zoe told the weakened vampire. "I command you not to."

"Yes Master." Seras replied.

"Yeah, seriously." Dirge agreed. "If you die I'll kill ya after I've gone through all this trouble."

"Are we all ready?" Nephthys asked raising her scythe in readiness as they stood in a line and watched the zombie horde that had gathered below them, under the fire escape. Hundreds of the undead had already found their way to the warehouse in the time they had taken to get ready to move and more were constantly arriving.

"Yeah." Dirge agreed making sure Seras would not fall.

"Ready." Zoe grinned while waving Dirge's shovel towards the zombies below.

"North right?" Dirge checked.

"North." Seras confirmed. "The place we're heading is a very small town, little more than a single street. Nice place. Very quiet, off the beaten track. Perfect place for a haven. Mellow Falls."

"Gotcha. Cerberus clear us a path." Dirge commanded.

Cerberus looked at Dirge and gave a faint rumbling noise before he jumped over the railing and fell into the crowd below like a buzzsaw, snapping and tearing anything that was unlucky enough to be near.

"Let us make haste." Nephthys said somersaulting over the railing and into the horde.

"Rawr!" Zoe shouted jumping off too with Dirge's shovel held above her head.

"You've rubbed off on her I see." Dirge commented watching Zoe smash the shovel onto a zombie head with some force. "She's got a nice swing."

Cerberus and Nephthys they had already cleared a decent space of the decaying hordes as Zoe joined in.

"Keep a close eye on her please Dirge." Seras asked as Dirge leapt over the railings after them.

"I will." He told her landing with a thud. He followed closely to Cerberus and Nephthys as they cut a path through the horde. Zoe was helping smacking the remains of any that still moved after the hound and Nephthys had dealt with them. "Although I don't think I'll have to." Dirge grinned in amusement.

**Chapter 10**

Well now, isn't this a sight to behold..." Gallows exclaimed under his non-necessary breath with an exhalation of smoke. He was currently lying prone on a building across from the warehouse that the blonde woman and girl had entered with the other human they had met. Gallows was currently using his brass telescope to get a closer look.

He had been patiently watching and waiting, fully expecting them to stay inside for a while. He had sent the bird on to scout the place out, see how many ways there where in and out. He did not want them to leave without his knowledge.

It had been barely five minutes after they had entered the building that he had smelt it. The scent that drove zombies wild, the scent that distracted him terribly, the scent of the living. It emanated from inside the warehouse, although it was dulled by the overlaid smell of decay, in fact barely recognisable. He had grown to hate that smell as it beat on his mind trying to break it down and turn him into an uncontrollable creature of instinct. Gallows growled and forced himself to try to ignore it, he hated anything that removed his control and this the most.

With the momentary distraction, he had not seen the first zombies arrive and he cursed the living and their smell. There were two zombies, well three if you counted the rather large zombie dog as one. Gallows paused and held his gaze on them. One was a rather large, well-built male and the other a tall female wrapped completely in black electrical tape. Both were carrying items, a shovel and a scythe.

"I'd bet my bottom jaw that they ain't normal zombies." Gallows remarked as they were definitely having a conversation between themselves. "What the devil is going on?"

In all the years since he had woken to his current existence he had never run into another intelligent zombie like himself and suddenly in less than a few hours he had seen three? What were the chances of that?

"Now dontcha be getting all excited just yet." Gallows told himself feeling an excitement at the possibility of others like him. "Wait. Watch. Plan."

It was then that the warehouse wall exploded outwards raining bricks and debris down onto the street.

"What the hell?" Gallows quickly swung the telescope to observe what had happened. He watched as a battered metal locker bounced across the street. The zombies and their dog approached the locker carefully, the larger one said something and knelt down to examine the battered object while the female positioned herself behind it and held her weapon ready.

The locker door was smashed open from the inside, taking the big one aback when the purple-haired girl emerged from the projectile. They stared at each other dumbfounded.

"Oooh, let's see what happens here." Gallows grinned expecting there to be suddenly one less human in the world. When the girl embraced the large zombie in a friendly hug Gallows once again dropped his rolled cigarette from his mouth. "Wha?"

The undead cowboy proceeded to observe them in wonderment. The big one pushed the girl away and said something while pointing at her vest. Gallows could guess what it was, even at this distance the smell was overpowering. The girl pressed a button and grinned while saying something and the smell began to fade away.

It would appear by the way the girl recognised the zombies in the street that they were friends. Gallows wondered how that was possible and became even more surprised when she hugged the dog as well.

All the humans he had ran into in the early days had tried to kill him, he ended up having to shoot first to survive. With each encounter, he had grown increasingly bitter towards humans, coming to resent them. Then he had stumbled upon that lab and the recorded message. He did not understand half of what was going on but he got the general gist.

The zombie outbreak was down to some nasty little bug that reanimated a corpse for its own use. It seemed that the human sending the message, a Dr. G. Elgin had discovered what the bug was and had a cure. He claimed the first test subject had come back clean in five minutes. It seemed that the hooded man he was talking to was the only other to know of this cure, especially as the recording was cut short when Dr. Elgin was jumped by something.

Now Gallows had put two and two together and came to realise that it was only because of the bugs that he was still around. If the humans found that recording and figured out the cure...he guessed he could kiss his own existence goodbye. Gallows was rather partial to his existence and the resentment felt towards humans became a part of his mission to survive. It was the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and he intended to survive.

He returned his attention to the street in time to see the girl rush back into the warehouse the zombies following her closely. Gallows waited, carefully watching for movements. He did not have to wait long; the man they had met came stumbling out the smoking hole clutching his arm that appeared to have been mauled by something. He guessed the dog had done that as he pulled his rifle up and aimed. Seems that even though the girl was on friendly terms with the zombies the guy on his knees in the street was not.

His bird had landed beside the dirty human on a pile of rubble, attracted to the noise that the human was making. He aimed carefully until his bird distracted the man and he looked right at it. Gallows pulled the trigger and watched pleased by the headshot.

"That's one less human to deal with. Now where did cutie go?" he wondered as she was the only one he had not seen yet. He settled back, lit another cigarette and waited. As he waited, more walking corpses began to hobble down the street all approaching the warehouse.

Gallows did not have long to wait. In just under fifteen minutes, the zombies and girl reappeared. The big one had cutie strapped to his back with the chains he was wearing and was unmoving. She appeared to be dead at first glance arms lifelessly draped over his shoulders. Behind him, the girl hovered and held his shovel.

"Now this is interesting." Gallows remarked zooming in on the blonde-haired woman, she appeared to have been stabbed in the eye with a sharp object judging by the cleaned wound to her face and missing eye. "I think I can guess what happened in there. Guess the human figured you out. Humans." Gallows stated with contempt.

He kept watching as the dog and female zombie leapt down into the street and began clearing a path through the sea of corpses. The girl soon followed them. The blonde was not as dead as he thought as she began talking with the big zombie.

"Looks like they're on the move again pard." Gallows stated to his bird as he climbed to his feet. Pulling his rifle over his shoulder, he spoke again. "C'mon let's see where they are a headed."

"Caw!"

------------

Nephthys spun her scythe easily in her hand as she swung it in a wide arc in front of her. Any zombie unfortunate enough to be nearby lost limbs, heads and even torsos to her whirling weapon. She halted the scythe's spin and came to rest in a ready position, the weapon held singlehandedly behind her back sharpened blade facing down.

"It is good that not many have gotten here yet." She stated to her companions as they worked with her to clear a path through.

"Less talking more clearing!" Dirge exclaimed breaking the neck of a zombie with a loud crack that had gotten too close to his cargo. "Yuk, that one was juicy."

"Hmph!" Nephthys snorted. "Typical male. Making the women do all the work. Eh sweetie?" She directed that towards Zoe who was helping finish off any zombies that Cerberus had not completely destroyed.

"Eh?" Zoe asked looking up from her task of literally beating the brains out of a zombie torso and head that was snapping at her feet.

"I don't see you carrying a wounded vampire." Dirge stated picking his way over body parts and fluids that slicked the surface, threatening to slip him up. "And don't go filling her head up that junk. I do plenty."

"What junk?" Nephthys asked innocently while stepping back into the fray. Zombies began falling again to her blade.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Dirge said and grabbed Zoe by her vest and pulled her away from a zombie reaching out for her. "Careful Zoe." Dirge punched the zombie knocking the remaining teeth out of its skull and sending it stumbling away. "Eyes peeled and stay behind Cerberus."

"Okay." Zoe blinked in surprise as Dirge put her back down.

"Any chance we can make a break for it?" Dirge asked the Egyptian zombie hedge trimmer as she continued removing zombies from their path. Even with Cerberus and Nephthys clearing the way, it was taking too long for Dirge's liking. The longer it took to get out of here the more zombies would show up and eventually even they could not hold them all off.

"Nearly." Nephthys replied while still slicing and dicing. "They are thinning out in this direction."

"This is taking too long!" Dirge exclaimed in annoyance.

"Dirge, one's got hold of my shirt." Seras told him weakly.

"Hey buddy! Hands off her!" Dirge elbowed the zombie, spun and gave a powerful right hook to its jaw with enough force to send it pivoting away like a drunk dancer.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Dirge grinned back at Seras. "Hey Queen Tut, any chance of speeding things up abit?"

"I suppose." Nephthys glanced back over her shoulder looking none too amused. She burst into motion and ran towards Dirge who put his hands up in surrender.

"Hey sorry okay!"

She skidded to a halt just in front of him, turned and sprinted right at the crowd of zombies at a much greater velocity. Nephthys suddenly left the ground, leaping high above the zombies' heads into a spin with her arms crossed over her chest and hugging the scythe in line with her body.

Dirge, Zoe and Seras watched in fascination as Nephthys spun multiple times above the zombies before straightening herself out and coming down feet first into the crowd. One zombie was unfortunate enough to be under her when her high heeled feet came crashing down onto it, piercing its skull with the force of impact.

She was instantly into motion as she landed whipping out her scythe as she went into a very fast spin. Zombies suddenly found their legs removed at the knees as Nephthys kept spinning and building speed. As she sped up, she allowed the scythe to extend further out until she was just holding onto the very end of the handle with both hands. This had the effect of clearing an eight-foot circle around her leaving very few zombies to break past now.

Nephthys slowed her spin down until she finally stopped and stood back up calmly to hold her scythe at arm's reach, the handle resting on the ground as she observed her handiwork.

"Well?" she asked Dirge smugly. "What are you waiting for? They will not stay down forever."

"Nice." Seras whistled while Dirge grabbed Zoe.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Zoe asked as Dirge placed and held her under one arm.

"Running." Dirge quipped as he charged towards the thin wall of zombies between them and Nephthys that had begun to wonder what had happened.

"Outta the way! Dead guy coming through!" Dirge shouldered his way through the zombies knocking them flying. Once into the clearing Nephthys had made she joined them in the run. They burst free of the crowd and into the main road, which was far clearer of zombies, although there were some wandering towards the warehouse.

"What about Cerberus?" Zoe shouted not wanted to leave the zombie dog behind.

"Don't you worry about Cerberus." Dirge told her. "He can handle himself. He'll catch us up easily."

"But..."

"Dirge is correct." Nephthys stated as she ran beside them. "Our four legged friend will make short work of anything that gets in his way. Besides, he can outrun any of us easily. He will catch up to us later."

"Oh...okay." Zoe hesitantly agreed.

"So how far north do we go?" Dirge finally asked Seras as they kept on running down the streets while trying to avoid bumping into the various undead that had crawled out from wherever they hid and were heading the way the group had just came.

"A few days travel at this speed." Seras replied after a short silence as she felt out her haven. She could sense her coffin out there.

"Days?" Dirge sighed. "Aw...Perfect."

"Then we will just have to keep running twenty-four seven until we reach it." Nephthys stated. "Dirge or I can easily carry Zoe and keep this pace indefinitely."

"Cool." Seras sighed. "One little problem about that..."

"Oh great...what is it?" Dirge asked knowing things would not be so simple.

"Me. I'm too weak to survive if the cloud cover breaks." Seras told them glancing up at the dark clouds overhead.

"What?" Dirge gasped and shook his head in annoyance. "It's always something! Why can't things ever be simple? Can we cover you?"

"Yeah. Something thick that blocks out sunlight will do. It doesn't matter about being able to breath of course."

"Of course." Nephthys faintly grinned and began scanning the buildings to either side of them as they ran. She felt a sense of urgency in finding something suitable for the vampire; the clouds could break at anytime.

After a few streets they began passing various stores and then Nephthys saw one she thought may just have something useful.

"How about a sleeping bag?" She asked slowing down and halting in front of an outdoor and sporting goods store. The windows were smashed and it looked like a lot of stuff was missing from the shelves.

"That would do." Seras agreed.

"Really? I was thinking a body bag was more appropriate for you." Dirge joked.

"Haha." Seras sighed.

"Stay here. I will be quick." Nephthys said heading towards the store. "If many of our brothers and sisters show, leave I will catch up."

"Roger." Dirge grinned letting Zoe down. "Hey while ya're at it see if there's any baseball bats or similar for Zoe here. Then I can have my shovel back."

They watched the electrical taped zombie disappear into the store. Zoe kept a wary eye on the few zombies that stumbled down the street, drawn towards the noise and the short scent of living flesh from just a few minutes ago.

"I'm glad you found us." Zoe grinned up at Dirge.

"How did you find us anyway?" Seras asked wondering how they had managed to show up just when they needed them to.

"We saw the pair of you leaving the Acropolis in the early hours of the morning." Dirge explained. "Cerberus could track you easily enough."

"But my vest is on?" Zoe pondered.

"Not you Zoe. Her." Dirge indicated Seras with a thumb.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you don't smell quite like a human but neither do you smell like a zombie. Somewhere in-between and its easy enough to follow. I'm actually surprised you didn't get constantly attacked by zombies before we met."

"I did actually if I got too close to them. I always wondered why they would bother with me...although after I had fed I had a lot more trouble with them now that I think about it. So...I smell just different enough to get noticed?"

"Yep. Thankfully you don't smell as appetising as Zoe without her vest turned on..." Dirge eyed the girl making sure she got the hint about how stupid she had been.

"Heehee." Zoe looked slightly embarrassed under the gaze Seras sent her way.

"What happened?"

"I switched off my vest to draw the zombies in the warehouse to me so I could blow them up."

"Blow them up?" Seras asked.

"Yeah. I found a way out the freezer you locked me in but ended up trapped in a room with zombies. But there was some barrel filled with explosive liquid. I lit it, hid in an old locker and caused the zombies to come investigate. It worked too!" Zoe grinned in pride.

"Yeah and the explosion was big enough to tear a hole through the walls and attract every zombie in the city. You were incredibly lucky you weren't killed pulling that stunt Zoe. That was amazingly dumb even for you!" Dirge scolded.

"Hey! It worked!"

"Well done Master." Seras applauded the girl much to Dirge's and Zoe's surprise.

"What the hell? Why aren't you telling her how stupid she was?" Dirge asked the vampire in total surprise while Zoe puffed up in pride.

"Because she proves again why she is my Master."

"She almost gets herself killed and you're telling her how good she was to try it?"

"Of course," Seras told a bewildered Dirge. "It proves she has all the requirements of being the Master of a vampire."

"What? Stupidity?"

"No." Seras shook her head. "The will to fight for her life to the very end...even if it means losing it."

"Care to enlighten us not in the crazy fools club?"

"How many people would have given up in her situation? She was trapped in a room with zombies that she could not get past. She had a choice, she could have just curled up in a corner and waited for death or she could try to fight them. She used all the resources at her disposal and destroyed them utterly." Seras grinned proudly. "Even if she had died, it would have been on her own terms."

"I can see your point, sort of...but I still think it was crazy." Dirge admitted after a moment to digest that information. He eyed Zoe again and realised something he had missed earlier due to all the excitement. "Shouldn't you be bruised to hell after that stunt?" Dirge asked noting there was not a mark on Zoe's arms even after she had been smashed around inside a metal locker that had been launched across a street.

"Huh?" Zoe stated in confusion as she checked herself over. "Should I?"

"Errr yeah." Dirge leant closer to examine the girl. There was not a mark to be seen on her skin, only the lilac coloured scar that ran over her right eye. _There was no way she could have come out of that without a bruise or two_, Dirge thought to himself.

"You haven't...done anything to her?" Dirge asked Seras suddenly suspicious of the vampire.

"What?" the pair of females exclaimed. Seras was genuinely shocked that Dirge had asked that. "I have done nothing that might hurt her!"

"So you have done something?"

"No!" Seras growled. "Don't twist my words!"

"Well it seems odd that she hasn't even gotten a single bruise after almost blowing herself to pieces. Seems like something your kind can do." Dirge said accusingly.

"You...you think I've embraced her don't you." Seras looked like she had been slugged in the gut. "I would never even think...I wouldn't!"

"But you have thought about it." Dirge replied reading between the lines hearing how Seras had hesitated.

"So what if I've thought it?" Seras growled. "I would never change someone into a monster like me unless they fully understood what it entailed! I was only given the choice live or die...I was never told of the consequences! I was never taught how to use my abilities...how to control myself...what I _really_ was."

"What you really are? You drink blood aren't you a vampire?" Dirge asked confused now.

"Yes I am...but there's more to it than just drinking blood." Seras sighed. "I told you six years ago that everyone I consume becomes a part of me."

"Yeah..."

"Think for a moment what that means."

"Well...I guess you have lots of souls inside you? And you can give them a body if you need to like with Pop."

"That's Pip." Seras corrected him. "And you're right, but are they really souls or just memories? Now think about this...I was consumed by my sire. What does that mean?"

Dirge rolled that question around his head and quickly came to an answer.

"You think you could just be a soul given a body by the one that drank your blood?"

"Maybe...I don't really know. Ever since that night in London, when I became a true vampire and realised what I really am...I've wondered...am I just another piece of him? A piece he lets roam free for his own amusement? He only ever acknowledged me once by my name." Seras sighed sounding saddened though whether it was because she wondered if she was just a piece of someone else or that she had only ever been acknowledged once. "Am I really Seras Victoria or did she die that night in Cheddar and I'm just her memories given a body?"

An uncomfortable silence settled over them at Seras' last words. Dirge wondered what that must feel like, not knowing if you were or were not who you remembered being. At least with having no real memories he did not really have to worry about who he was, as he had no idea. He had often wondered but in the end decided although it would be nice to know it was not really that important.

"The Gods favour us today." Nephthys' voice drew everyone's attention to her as she reappeared, approaching them from behind and carrying a recovered olive-green sleeping bag large enough to fit Seras in completely. She paused and frowned at the subdued atmosphere. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing." Seras replied first not feeling like explaining her deepest feelings about what she was again. She was still unsure why she had confided that to Dirge.

"Yeah...nothing important." Dirge confirmed.

"Really?" Nephthys drawled unconvinced but decided to not ask for now. "I have found a sleeping bag."

"Good." Dirge took the bag, pulled it from its case before he unrolled it on the ground. He unzipped the zipper before unstrapping Seras from his back and carefully with Nephthys' help got her into the sleeping bag.

"Will you be okay?" Dirge asked the vampire as he held the zipper ready.

"I'll be fine. Thanks." Seras nodded and closed her eye. "I'll sleep till its dark, we'll talk later."

"Sleep well." Zoe told her as Dirge zipped the bag up completely hiding the vampire from any source of light. Dirge then carefully picked Seras up and placed her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. As he made sure the vampire would not slip, he spotted Cerberus loping towards them.

"Told you he would catch up." Dirge grinned and pointed towards the zombie dog trying to lighten the atmosphere again. "Here boy!" Cerberus slowed to a walk before sitting obediently before Dirge.

"Good boy." Dirge congratulated patting the dog's head. Cerberus gave him a doggy grin. "Well, I suppose we should get moving again. The sooner we find this coffin of hers the sooner she gets better."

"Then let us make haste." Nephthys agreed and turned to Zoe. "Should I carry you for now?"

"Nah, I want to walk for a bit."

"We'll be running." Dirge informed the girl.

"Oh, okay then I'll run for a bit." Zoe grinned placing her thumbs under her backpack's straps and adjusting it.

"Are you sure?" Nephthys asked. "We will be setting a fast pace."

"Yeah I'm sure."

"If you are sure..." Nephthys raised an immaculate eyebrow in curiosity. She wondered just how long Zoe would hold that tune once they started running.

"Let her run for a bit." Dirge stated walking over to her and then whispered. "If she tires herself out she'll sleep longer. If there's one thing I remember from six years ago it's that she gets into less trouble when asleep."

------------

Zora was jolted awake from her restless sleep as the Ark came to a grinding halt. There was a loud hissing noise of powerful pneumatic brakes engaging complete with the sensation of forward momentum being halted. Zora pulled herself up and looked around as people moved towards the front quickly.

"Hey Doc." A now familiar voice spoke as Alistair walked over and knelt down in front of her.

"What's going on?" Zora asked yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Why have we stopped?"

"Roads blocked." Alistair informed her. "Priest says they went over it."

"A road block or is the road destroyed?"

"A proper blockade, from the looks of it people made a last stand here."

"Are we turning around and finding another way through?" Zora asked swinging her legs off the seat she had laid on.

"No Dr. Elgin." Priest's voice startled her again as he seemingly appeared from nowhere. Zora absently wondered if he did that on purpose. "We will use this as an opportunity to rest and allow the engines to cool down as we shift the blockade. The pace we have been setting is stressing them more than they should be. You may have noticed the temperature increase in here."

"It is rather warm." Zora remarked.

"Yes, unfortunately the powerful electric engines required to move a vehicle of this size generate a lot of heat. We need to have regular breaks to allow them or more precisely the energy cells to cool. I believe you are aware of what happens to an overheating energy cell?"

"Yes I am." Zora nodded knowing that although fairly safe, the power cells full of highly compressed catalysts and chemicals could explode under high temperatures. "How big are your cells?"

"We use a pair of two cubic gallon cells. Good for nearly a year's constant moving." Priest replied and at Zora's worried expression, he grinned. "They would make a...rather large boom if they got too hot."

Zora glanced towards the rear of the Ark worry etched on her face. She had seen buildings destroyed by overheating power cells during the zombie outbreak, the cells had been overheated on purpose to destroy as many zombies as possible. She did not relish the thought of being on a vehicle that contained two such cells that were giving off enough heat to warm the entire Ark.

"Do not worry too much Doctor." Priest must have known what was going through her head at that moment. "We use large heatsinks and funnel the heat into here to heat water and keep us warm. We have run them a lot warmer than this before."

"If...if you say so." Zora glanced around nervously.

"Come Doctor, we're going to clear the blockage while we wait for them to cool. I'm sure you'd like some fresh air." Priest offered his hand to her. She took it hesitantly and he helped her to her feet.

------------

Nephthys glanced over her shoulder at Zoe as they ran down the highway. They had left the city nearly an hour ago and were currently making their way north along the highway. Their progress was easy enough on foot. They could easily weave in between the abandoned and rusting husks of former cars where as in a vehicle it would have been impossible.

She frowned while observing the girl curiously. Despite setting a pace that was slower than what she and Dirge had taken catching Seras and Zoe up, it was still fast enough that Zoe should have been exhausted by now and yet the girl was still keeping the pace.

There were definite signs of exertion, her cheeks slightly flushed and she was breathing harder than normal but she was keeping pace even after all this time. It was impressive and a little strange, more so as she had only recently lost enough blood to say she had been cold.

"How are you holding up Zoe?" Nephthys asked the question.

"I'm fine." Zoe replied.

"Good. Good." Nephthys nodded her suspicions confirmed. This pace was not stressing the girl if she could answer so easily. Zoe seemed to have gained some kind of superhuman stamina or maybe a stronger healing factor was closer to the truth after witnessing how fast she had recovered from blood loss. Nephthys made a note to check her wounds and see exactly how far on they were with healing. "When we stop to let you rest for a bit, I'll check your bandages."

"Okay. But I'm fine we can keep going for awhile yet."

"Yes sweetie." Nephthys smiled. "I was thinking we will stop shortly after dark, then Seras can be brought back out and we can catch up with what has been going on."

"Cool." Zoe grinned. "I want to know what you guys have been up to."

"As we do you." Nephthys glanced over Zoe's head at Dirge who brought up the rear. He had been very quiet again since they had set off and she was curious as to why. Behind Dirge, she caught sight of a faint movement, a flash of brown and then it was gone.

_Hmmmm, it appears our little shadow is still following_, Nephthys thought turning to face forward once again. She positioned her scythe carefully so that she could easily see behind them in the polished blade.

Whoever it was that was following them was not bad, but they were not good enough for her to miss. She had first noticed them shortly after leaving the city, just a flash of movement keeping a good distance behind them and using anything suitable for cover.

She had expected whoever it was to have either tired out or given up by now, the fact they were still being followed was worrisome. Seeing Zoe was keeping up Nephthys decided to increase the pace slightly.

_Let's see if you can still keep up our mysterious shadow_, she thought to herself increasing the pace.

------------

Zora sat back on wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, trailing a dirty smudge as she watched from atop of the Ark. They had spent ages shifting the barricades under Priest's directions, until there was enough of a gap to squeeze the massive vehicle through. It had been hard work, especially hard to move had been the large bus they had to drag out of the way.

Zora had expected once through the barricade they would be on the move once again, however Priest had declared he had to give the remains of people they had found on the other side a proper burial. He and his followers had gathered them up and buried them as best as they could. They all now lay beneath piles of rubble to the side of the street. Priest was going through a sermon at this moment.

Zora had felt out of place and so had retreated back to the ark and waited. She leaned back and stared up at the sky. The thick dark clouds had gone but the sky remained overcast, now and then, there were breaks in the cloud and sunlight would once again show bathing the world once again in colour. Looking up she guessed it was getting late, would probably begin growing dark soon.

One particularly dark cloud caught her attention. Strange how it seemed to move quicker than the others did. As she watched the cloud come closer she realised it was not a cloud at all. It was an incredibly large murder of undead crows and other birds all making their way towards the city.

Zora climbed to her feet and stared at the birds; worry springing up in her as she watched them approach. _There must be hundreds of them_, she thought unable to count the vast amount of undead birds. Zora stared a moment longer before looking over to Priest and his followers. She needed to warn them but to shout would be the worst thing she could think of doing.

Fortunately, for her she did not have to as Priest had somehow sensed the threat and glanced up himself. As Priest fell silent many of his followers also looked up. Priest shut his bible he had been reading from and gave a quick hand signal. Everyone began moving back towards the Ark, quickly but calmly.

They all were soon climbing up the ladders and making their way to the entrances on the roof. Priest stopped beside Zora.

"Quickly get inside." He told her with a wave towards the entrance.

Once inside Zora found Priest's followers were rushing around, flipping switches and checking the windows.

"Everyone get to your positions. We have work to do." Priest commanded. "Start the engines."

"What are you going to do?" Zora asked wondering why they were not keeping total silent.

"These creatures are abominations and must be destroyed." Priest turned to her smiling in his way. "We are going to take them out."

"What? But that's insane! There's hundreds of them out there. If they get in..."

"Do not worry." Priest placed his hand comfortingly onto Zora's shoulders. "We have done this many times. Do you not think we are prepared for all eventualities?" He gave her a friendly wink and turned away as the deep rumbling hum of the engines began again. "Wait till I give the signal." He shouted and he began climbing back outside.

"Where's he going?" Zora stared.

"Outside." Alistair stated from behind her and she turned to face him. "He's going to attract them to us."

Zora stared slack jawed unsure of exactly what to say or do before snapping back. "He'll be killed! Even if he heals damn fast I've seen them strip a person of flesh in minutes!"

"Calm down Doc." Alistair grinned taking her by the arm and leading her over to a large view screen. "This is gonna blow your mind when you see what he does."

"But!"

"Just watch. Trust him."

Zora stared at Alistair almost ready to argue again but his confident grin made her curious. Just what the hell was Priest going to do and why was everyone so calm? She turned her gaze back to the view screen that showed multiple views of the Ark's exterior. Priest was currently walking towards the very middle of the long vehicle. As he got into position, he paused and spoke.

"I'm in position. Begin charging the capacitors." Priest's voice echoed over the loudspeakers as he talked into the communicator on his collar. With that command the engines began revving, there was a deep hum causing deep vibrations to rumble through the entire vehicle. "I'll hold them till it's ready. Sending out the dinner invitation now."

"Watch this." Alistair pointed at the screen as Priest flipped his bible open and began chanting something too quiet for them to hear.

"They've spotted him!" someone shouted out and everyone turned their attention to the screen tracking the birds. As was planned the birds had realised there was someone living down there and changed course diving towards the Ark, specifically Priest who stood as calm as ever even as the first undead bird shrieks were heard.

"How did he attract them?" Zora asked not seeing him doing anything different.

"He doesn't need to wear one of these vests." Alistair told her indicating the scent-cancelling device. "Somehow he can mask his presence from them until times like this when he wants to baits them to us."

"Capacitors twenty-five percent charged!" someone called out.

On the view screens, Priest stood calmly as the swarming black mass of birds dived towards him growing closer and louder with each passing second.

"Oh God." Zora moaned in fear for him as the birds closed in. "He's going to be killed."

"No he's not." Alistair smirked and continued watching.

Zora gulped and although she wanted to tear her eyes away from the screen, she could not. The confidence of Priest, his followers and her own morbid curiosity kept her eyes glued on the view. She watched as the birds came within a few feet of Priest and suddenly came to an abrupt halt as if they had just smashed into a pane of glass.

"What...?" Zora released the breath she did not know she was holding and stared in disbelief at the screen. The birds were now swarming around Priest but for some reason could not get within two feet of him. It was as if they were smashing into an invisible barrier. They squawked and fluttered violently around him as they tried unsuccessfully to get at the human they sensed. Even though they were inside the noise of hundreds of wings and squawks was deafening and frightening inside the Ark.

"Capacitors seventy-six percent charged!" the same voice called out again.

"Not long now." Alistair stated still watching the screen.

"How...how is he doing that?" Zora asked not sure of what her eyes were showing her.

"His faith gives him power."

"It's impossible..." Zora whispered still seeing the same thing on screen.

Another minute passed by as the zombie birds continued their efforts to get at the living person they could sense. The undead had no concept of failure and would continue trying to get at him until they were stopped somehow.

"Capacitors fully charged! We're ready to go!"

"Excellent." Priest's voice once again came through the speakers. On the screen, he raised his eyes to the hundreds of birds that tried to get at him and smirked. "Undead creatures that should have stopped moving long ago...farewell!"

Priest slammed one palm onto the open bible and suddenly hundreds of pages began spewing out. The pieces of paper each shot off in every direction, each one heading for a specific target. Every undead bird suddenly found itself wrapped up in the paper, wings tightly bound and dragged down to smash into the outside hull of the Ark where they continued squawking in confused rage. The entire length of the vehicle quickly became coated in black, paper wrapped bodies.

Zora was speechless; she could not wrap her mind around what she was witnessing and just stared in numb shock.

"Now." Priest commanded calmly.

At his command, someone flipped the switch, discharging enough volts and amperage into the Ark's hull to fry every single bird pinned to the vehicle. There was a loud crackle of electricity and a strong smell of ozone, cooked flesh and burnt paper as every single undead bird had its nervous system destroyed in one big orgy of destruction.

The engines slowed down to just a faint hum as a huge cheer went up all along the Ark, like being in a football stadium when your team had just scored even as the smoking bodies all began tumbling off. Blackened wisps of paper floated off into the air carried away by the faint breeze as Priest snapped his bible shut. He examined the birds carefully for a moment and when satisfied all where finally dead turned and walked back towards the entrance hatch.

"Not possible!" Zora whispered to herself as everyone else began celebrating. She felt a shiver pass through her and wondered when she would wake from this crazy dream.

**Chapter 11**

The sun was setting as the group consisting of Nephthys, Zoe, Cerberus and Dirge, who still carried Seras hidden in her sleeping bag, held easily over his shoulder continued on with their journey. The setting sun lit the sky in a brilliant orange and cast the clouds with a red tint as the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon and casted their long stretched out shadows over the highway.

The fading light was still enough to reveal the blockade just up ahead and prompted Nephthys to slow down.

"What's up?" Dirge asked as they all slowed down to a jog before finally halting.

"Many military vehicles ahead." Nephthys indicated. "It may be prudent to see if we can recover one."

"You want to take a car? Why now?"

"This appears to be the end of what was once a traffic jam, probably a military checkpoint to try and contain the infected at one point during the outbreak. Taking a car further back was pointless; we would have been unable to get it past all the other vehicles." Nephthys turned to face Dirge. "While there is still some light I wish to check Zoe's injuries. See if you can find us some transport."

"Sure, whatever." Dirge sighed before glancing towards the horizon and the setting sun. "I'll leave Seras with you two."

"Very well." Nephthys nodded and turned her attention to Zoe while Dirge carefully laid the sleeping vampire on the ground, making extra sure she was not woken.

"How are you feeling now?" Nephthys asked Zoe as the girl stood looking around and catching her breath. She was breathing hard and had a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead but seemed on slightly winded from the long run.

"Hot and tired." Zoe admitted fanning her face with her hands.

"Good. Thirsty?"

"Yeah." Zoe nodded and shrugged one of the straps of her backpack off.

"You have more supplies, yes?"

"Oh yes." Zoe grinned sheepishly while shrugging her other arm free and dropping the backpack on the ground with a rattle of tins colliding. Nephthys eyed Zoe strangely at the way the girl had replied but did not press as to why she sounded guilty over something.

While Zoe unzipped her backpack and rummaged around for one of the cans of cola, Nephthys glanced back the way they had come. She carefully examined the cars back down the highway looking for movement.

She had not seen any sign of the person or the something that had been shadowing them for a while now. That did not mean much as she had deliberately let whomever had been following them know that she knew they were there. Since then, the sightings had vanished although whether from them giving up or getting sneakier Nephthys was not sure.

"Secure the perimeter." Nephthys told Cerberus. The zombie dog looked at her before turning and loping back down the highway, nose to the ground.

"Yuk." Zoe stated after emptying the can and throwing it away. Her expression was one of disgust.

"Not very nice to drink?" Nephthys said with an amused smile at Zoe.

"No. Seras said it's past its sell by date but is still drinkable." Zoe grimaced. "She's not the one that has to though."

"True, but you do require substance." Nephthys moved closer to the girl and knelt down taking her bandaged arm. "Let me see your injuries."

She began to carefully unwrap the bandages decorating Zoe's arm while she stood and watched in interest.

"Does this arm hurt?"

"Not really." Zoe replied. "It itched for a while but that's gone now."

"Hmmm." Nephthys removed the last of the wrappings and turned Zoe's arm towards her. The girl's arm was unmarked, not a sign of being bitten by the vampire. "Interesting." Nephthys stated turning her attention to Zoe's palm. Her arm may have been unmarked but her palm had a pink scar running across it.

"The bite's gone?" Zoe blinked surprised herself. "How'd that happen?"

"Yes. However, the wound you gave yourself is still there, although far too healed for just a few hours. Very odd." Nephthys traced her thumb along the pink scar. "Have you ever healed this quickly before this day?"

"I don't think so..." Zoe told the undead woman.

"Maybe it has something to do with a vampire's bite." Nephthys pondered. "I will check with the vampire when she awakens. Has anything else...unusual happened to you recently?"

"No..." Zoe lied not sure if she should mention hearing voices in her head.

"I...see." Nephthys released Zoe's arm and narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly. She knew Zoe was not telling her everything.

The sudden cawing of a crow high above them drew both of their attentions skywards where there was a lone bird circling. It circled them three times and then headed off, flying back down the highway.

"That was...that ugly bird again...I think." Zoe stated watching it shrinking in the distance. Nephthys glanced at Zoe and examined her as she watched the bird. The zombie could barely make the bird out in the fading light when it had circled them; Zoe however seemed able to make it out even as it flew away.

Nephthys stood slowly, a frown decorating her face as she watched the direction that the bird had went not able to make it out in the darkening sky. She remembered when the vampire had guided her driving in the total darkness of the tunnel they had passed through six years previous and her previous suspicions became stronger.

"Can you still see it?" the Egyptian zombie asked.

"Not any longer." Zoe pulled her gaze from the sky to look at Nephthys. "Why?"

"Just wondering sweetheart."

"Hey guys, I found us a car." Dirge appeared from behind one of the trucks that surrounded them. "Gonna have to hotwire it though to get it going, it's biometrically locked out."

"Good. How long will that take?" Nephthys turned to Dirge.

"Not long, if I can find the tools." The big zombie replied and looked down at Seras in the sleeping bag. "There's a load of cans of gas too. Gonna load them up in the back as that stuff's always useful. Do you want to bring her out now? It's pretty dark."

"I would say so."

"You guys deal with her and I'll see if I can get the car going before it gets too dark to see." Dirge stated turning away.

"Dirge! Here's a torch." Zoe hopped over to the big zombie and presented her torch to him. Dirge took the torch slowly and flicked it on casting the dull beam onto the truck beside them.

"It's not great but it'll make my job a bit easier. Thanks squirt." Dirge gave Zoe an affectionate pat to the head. "Now help Queen Tut deal with the vampire. And stay outta trouble!"

"Sure thing!"

Nephthys nodded to Dirge when he looked over at her before he shrugged and wandered off leaving them alone. She watched the spot he had just vanished from in concern. Dirge had never until now referred to Seras as anything but Seras. He had slipped back into his quiet mood from earlier on since they had rescued Zoe and Seras from that warehouse. It would appear that there were unresolved issues between the pair.

"Seras wake up!" Zoe's voice brought her attention back to their current situation. Zoe had already gone ahead, unzipped the sleeping bag, and pulled it open enough to reveal the sleeping vampire. Nephthys moved over just as Seras' remaining eye flickered open. The vampire blinked and looked around groggily before she let out a groan.

"I guess the sun's gone." Seras mumbled.

"Indeed." Nephthys confirmed. "How do you feel now?"

"Like I've been staked and run over." Seras sighed. The vampire's face scrunched up in a look of intense concentration for a moment before she pulled one arm out of the bag and flexed it slowly and experimentally.

"Have you regained mobility?" Nephthys asked making mental notes about everything the vampire was doing.

"Mostly, I can feel my legs again." Seras admitted. "Although whether I can use them is another matter."

"You're getting better!" Zoe exclaimed.

"Define better." Seras rolled her eye and with a supreme effort pulled herself into a sitting position.

"Being able to move is a step up from your previous condition." Nephthys remarked casually.

"I suppose..." Seras looked around and noted the missing Dirge and Cerberus. "Where's Dirge and the dog?"

"Cerberus is making sure we're alone." Nephthys told her. "As for Dirge...he is procuring us a means of transport."

"Oh. That's good." Seras nodded. She then concentrated on pulling her legs free of the sleeping bag. It took what felt like an age to her to free her unresponsive legs from the sleeping bag, but eventually she was free. She then proceeded to try to stand a few times, each attempt ended unsuccessfully.

"Would you mind helping me up?" Seras finally asked feeling pathetic at having to ask that question.

"Of course not." Nephthys smiled and helped the vampire get to her feet. Seras wobbled unsteadily on rubbery legs while clutching to the zombie's arm to maintain her balance. She looked very embarrassed at this.

"You realise, there is no shame in asking for help in your condition." Nephthys told her in a friendly tone. "Nor in trusting your friends with the truth."

"What?" Seras asked glancing up at the taller woman curiously.

"Dirge is acting...off. I believe it has to do with issues unresolved between you and him."

"What do you mean? Issues?" Seras blinked in confusion at Nephthys' statement. "What are you accusing me of?"

"Accusing? You get my intentions all wrong." Nephthys smiled. "As I said, Dirge is not acting like himself ever since we saw you leaving the Acropolis. As I have been unable to get to the bottom of it...I am just suggesting you could maybe, talk with him."

Seras frowned while pondering what Nephthys was saying. Dirge had seemed upset at her earlier when she had been congratulating Zoe's performance. Maybe Zoe putting herself in such danger had upset him.

"As we are all here to look after Zoe, I would rather we all worked together than apart."

"I'll see what I can do." Seras replied with a nod after a moment's deliberation.

"Good." Nephthys smiled and helped Seras over to the truck where she leant against it to keep her balance. "Can you walk?"

"I'll try." Seras said pushing herself away from the truck. She wobbled and ended up forced to fall back against the abandoned vehicle. "Damn. Not without aid."

"Here." Nephthys offered her scythe to Seras. At the vampire's look of confusion towards the offered weapon, Nephthys elaborated. "Use this to lean against. Just keep the pointed end away from yourself."

"Thanks, I'll remember that." Seras grinned taking the scythe. She tested leaning her weight against the weapon before taking a step away from the truck with the scythe's help. Once Seras was sure she would be fine using the improvised walking stick she nodded towards Nephthys. "Thanks. Are you coming?"

"No. I will await Cerberus' return and help Zoe here get something to eat."

"I'm not really hungry." Zoe piped up remembering all she had to eat was those stupid tinned beans.

"Humans require food for energy. I do not want you tired in case of a sudden attack and we must move quickly."

Seras listened to Nephthys talking to Zoe as she hobbled in the direction she could smell Dirge had gone in. The scent of embalming fluids was easy enough to pick out even in her weakened state.

"But...it's...beans." Seras heard Zoe moan and felt a faint smirk cross her lips as she could imagine Zoe's pout at having to eat the recovered beans.

"I'm afraid so sweetie."

"I'm not hungry then."

"Did you also know, humans require food to grow? If you don't eat regular meals you wont."

"You mean...that's true?"

"Genetic factors aside, yes."

"Fine. I'll eat them."

Seras chuckled as the sound of their voices slowly faded from earshot. Nephthys had sneakily noticed one of the few things Zoe was sensitive about, her height and was using that to get her to eat. Zoe never believed anyone from the Acropolis telling her that before, but hearing it from one of her zombie friends seemed to have convinced her.

Seras proceeded to make her way slowly around the empty vehicles, tracing Dirge's tracks carefully. She felt better now that she was up and mobile once again, even if forced to rely on the improvised walking stick.

Up ahead she saw a flash of light escape from under the raised bonnet of a large black four-wheel drive SUV. Seras guessed it was a military version judging by the lack of the shiny extras that would be included on a civilian model. The bodywork also appeared heavier than normal as well, maybe reinforced.

As she approached, she could hear Dirge muttering under his breath.

"Hey." Seras greeted the zombie who reacted in surprise and bashed his head on the underside of the bonnet. That was followed by the sound of something metal bouncing off another metal object before the sound of metal hitting concrete.

"Oh...it's you." Dirge remarked with a scowl as he shone the flashlight directly into Seras' face. "What are you doing here?"

"That's a nice way to say hello." Seras muttered blinking before making her way over to Dirge.

"Yeah yeah." Dirge said dropping onto his hands and knees and shining the flashlight under the SUV looking for the wrench he had dropped in surprise. Spotting it, he reached under the vehicle and retrieved it. "Where's Zoe and her highness?"

"Nephthys is making her something to eat, I guess." Seras shrugged. Dirge rose back up and eyed the vampire. For a moment, it looked like he was going to say something before shrugging and leaning back under the bonnet to resume working on the engine.

Seras stood there and watched the zombie working in silence. She finally got bored of standing awkwardly and watching. Seras hobbled over to where Dirge was working away and rested herself against the vehicle. Placing Nephthys' scythe carefully against the SUV, Seras stuck her head under the bonnet as well.

"Whatcha doing?"

"What's it look like." Dirge mumbled removing one of the many various sized plastic covers and poking the instruments underneath with a greasy finger.

"Dunno." Seras replied looking on in interest. "I've never seen one of these engines."

"Really? I'd have thought you would have known some basics about cars."

"Only you put petrol in one end and the engine burns it in the other." Seras grinned.

"Petrol?" Dirge remarked. "Wow. Where have you been the last decade? These have all been electric drives for a long time now. The only gas engines about are the classics."

"Oh...so this is all battery powered?"

"Power-cell tech." Dirge replied picking up something that looked like a small computer to Seras and attaching it to a socket on the engine. "Although these military models have a small backup diesel generator to assist if needed."

"What's that?" Seras asked pointing at the device.

"A computer diagnostics tool." Dirge grunted pressing a button that lit up the display. "Are you gonna keep asking me questions about stuff you should have seen before?"

"Well excuse me for being old and not caring to keep up with modern technology!"

Dirge eyed Seras for a moment as if not believing what she had said. "Oh yeah, I forget. You're a pensioner."

"Yeah get off my lawn whippersnapper." Seras joked. Dirge seemed to ignore her attempt at humour and continued working. "So seriously...what does it do?"

"If you must know..." Dirge sighed. "It lets me see if there's anything wrong with the engine. The whole thing's controlled by the computer in here." Dirge tapped another aluminium cover. "I'm doing this, cause it's the only way to reset the computer and write my biometrics so I can start the car. Happy?"

"I guess."

The pair then settled into an awkward silence, Seras watching as Dirge worked away.

"Still here?" Dirge asked after a few minutes had passed waiting for the computer to reset.

"Yeah."

"Don't you have somewhere else to go? Like anywhere away from me?" Dirge asked gruffly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seras asked frowning at Dirge's tone. He sounded like he was accusing her of something.

"You tell me."

"What have I done?" Seras' frown deepened in growing anger. "Is it because I let Zoe come with me? Cause if it is...it was Zoe's idea and as my Master I have to obey her commands."

"No." Dirge answered abruptly. "But about that...I did not stick my neck on the line six years ago just for you to decide to bring her back out here again so the zombies could try for seconds." He pointed at Seras. "Also, we _both_ know there are things out here that are worse than zombies."

"Yeah, there is a stubborn obtuse jackass of an intelligent zombie!" Seras growled back.

"I'm stubborn?" Dirge rolled his eyeballs. "So says the vampire that lets herself get blown to pieces so she did not have to say goodbye or something like that to her friends before running away!"

"Running away? Hardly!" Seras retorted angrily.

"Then what do you call it?"

"I was looking after Zoe. There's more going on here than either you or I know!" Seras hissed. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to set everything up so I could stay close with her and not draw too much attention? How hard it was to ignore all the living blood? How hard it was to lie to her mother?"

"Obviously not as hard as it is to let me...us, know you were alive." Dirge accused.

"So...that's what this is about." Seras almost whispered noticing Dirge's mistake. "I couldn't."

"That's an outright lie if I ever heard one." Dirge stated in disbelief and cut Seras off before she could give a retort. "Even if you couldn't have told us yourself, I know you could have sent Pep to let us know after seeing you do that trick before. It's obvious you didn't want to be near me, a zombie."

"That's...that's not true Dirge. It's not like that." Seras was that surprised that she let Dirge's butchering of Pip's name slide.

"Isn't it?" Dirge pointed towards Seras accusingly. "Okay then, how about this? You just used me to get Zoe home so you could hide amongst the humans and get a free meal."

Seras reeled as if slapped in the face and it was only because she held onto the vehicle that she did not fall from this sudden movement. The expression of shock on Seras' face became tinged with guilt and even though he had accused her of that, Dirge felt a small tug of guilt on his own cold dead heart at saying those words and hurting her.

"I...didn't do...I...it's not..." Seras stuttered trying to find the words to explain why she had done what she had. Dirge's words had struck far too close to home for her liking, the accusations hurt almost as much as being shot in the chest. She had not used him. She had not hid amongst the humans just so she could stay well fed. She wanted to deny his words outright, but a small part of her knew she had done what he had accused, even if she had not intended to.

"I didn't mean to." Seras hung her head in self-revulsion. _I have really become a vampire_, Seras thought feeling a lump in her throat. _A monster_.

"Just tell me one thing," Dirge questioned. "Why couldn't you let us know? Your friends?"

"I don't know." Seras admitted in a quiet voice still staring at the ground.

"You don't know." Dirge repeated. "I spent six years thinking you had unselflessly sacrificed yourself on that bridge to save Zoe. I have been watching her home, protecting those people from zombies that wandered too close, wondering, how I could _ever_ live up to your example. Then you just _pop_ up outta nowhere and I find you've been hiding all this time. The invincible vampire can't even spare a few minutes to let me know that I've been wasting my time mourning over her!"

Seras kept her head down while Dirge ranted. He had looked up to her? He had mourned for her? She never believed anyone could feel that for her since she had came to realise what she was. No one since Pip had treated her that way. Seras felt her emotions torn in different directions; she wanted to get angry at his accusations but found herself unable to summon the energy.

"You...really mourned for me?" Seras asked quietly still watching the ground as a single red drop splashed down disturbing the dirt. She blinked her eye in surprise, realising that had been a tear. She was crying? Seras felt surprise run through her and a faint smile touched her lips. _Guess I'm not as much of a monster as I thought, if I'm able to have tears_.

"Yeah I did. Waste of time too." Dirge mumbled angrily. In front of him, he heard Seras sniffle. It sounded surprisingly like she had been crying. "Are you...crying?" Dirge asked in surprise.

Seras raised her face to Dirge and gave him a faint smile. "Yeah...silly isn't it?"

Dirge stared at the thin trail of blood that had leaked from Seras' eye. He suddenly felt small at upsetting her. He had expected her to get angry, to lash back at him; maybe like she had at the museum but to go all girly on him was not expected. He had never thought she was like that.

Seras watched disappointed as Dirge turned away from her and back to a toolbox beside him. She hung her head once more; it seemed he was going to ignore her now.

"Here." Dirge's voice made her look up again. He was holding a cloth, reached forward, and gently wiped away the blood from her face. "Don't want you to bleed to death or nuthing." Dirge mumbled awkwardly.

After he had cleaned the blood away, they stood in awkward silence looking at each other unsure what to do or say. Dirge began rubbing the back of his bald skull.

"Sorry." They both spoke at the same time and blinked back their surprise. They both then began chuckling embarrassedly at the silly sight they must both be.

"We kinda make a pair of pathetic monsters don't we. A crying vampire, and an embarrassed zombie." Dirge chuckled.

"Yeah." Seras agreed. "Can we, try again? I mean, go back to being friends and not upsetting each other?" She held out her hand.

"You're gonna be a little more forthcoming?" Dirge asked slowly.

"I won't let it happen again. I promise." Seras said seriously.

Dirge stared into her remaining crimson eye and saw no sign of deceit, only a faint longing for something familiar to himself. The want of acceptance, of being acknowledged.

"Friends." Dirge agreed taking Seras' tiny hand into his own massive one, and they shook on it.

"That was very moving." An Egyptian accented voice stated in slow precise tones behind them causing both Dirge and Seras to look in that direction in surprise. Nephthys stood smiling amusedly at them, Zoe by her side grinning like the Cheshire cat. "It is good you have worked out your differences. It would have brought a tear to my eyes if my tear ducts still worked." She mocked in a friendly tone while pretending to wipe away a tear.

"Seras and Dirge sitting in a tree!" Zoe snorted between chuckles as the pair pulled their hands away from each other quickly as if burnt.

"Finish that sentence and I'll teach ya the meaning of the word shovelhead." Dirge threatened waving his fist threateningly towards Zoe.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Right! That's it! Come here squirt!" Dirge mock growled and charged Zoe who yelped, turned tail and sprinted away with Dirge right behind her.

"You set me up." Seras accused turning to Nephthys as the undead woman walked over examining the SUV in detail.

"Me?" Nephthys smiled. "Maybe just a little, at least you two have cleared the air finally. I was getting worried about him."

"We're just friends, right."

"Of course." Nephthys agreed sounding as if she did not believe it. Seras was going to protest some more but Nephthys spoke first. "I hope they come back soon. It would be best to get you back to full strength as soon as possible. I fear that our actions may attract the unwanted attention of our big black friends."

"The Xar." Seras growled.

"Xar?" Nephthys turned sharply. "Is that their name?"

"Yeah."

"How did you discover that information?"

"I'll explain once we're moving. You all will need to know what little I've discovered." Seras stated looking the zombie in her eyes.

"You can put me down!" Zoe's voice called out as Dirge reappeared with the girl held tightly under one arm. She had her arms crossed and pouted cutely.

"Not a chance." Dirge rumbled. "I caught ya fair and square."

"Seras and Dirge sitting...ow! Quit it!" Zoe found her head under assault from a zombie's knuckles as Dirge rubbed them against her hair.

"Give up yet?" Dirge chuckled.

"Yes! Stop it!"

"Now, get in there and sit down." Dirge pulled the rear driver side door open and pushed the girl inside. As Dirge shut the door, they could make out the sound of Zoe humming a certain tune.

"You two get in as well." Dirge commanded. "It won't take me long to set the computer up now."

"Are you driving?" Seras asked slowly.

"Well, yeah...it's biometrically locked so only one person can drive it."

"Uh ho." Seras groaned. "I wanted Nephthys to drive. That way we don't have to worry about driving off any cliffs."

"Hardy ha ha." Dirge deadpanned. "Just get in the car."

Dirge made his way over to the configuration tool still plugged into the engine's computer. The screen indicated it was waiting for a retinal scan and a thumbprint from the new driver. Picking it up he showed his eye to the scanner. It beeped and he then pressed his thumb to the device. There was a second beep and the screen showed configuration was complete.

"Now let's see if this really works." Dirge stated unplugging the tool and dropping it back into the box. He knelt down, shut the toolbox and then stood back up, lifting the toolbox and placing it back under the bonnet. He reached up and shut the bonnet with a clunk. He was pleased to see Seras and Nephthys had gotten in the car. Seras in the back with Zoe and Nephthys sat in the passenger seat. He felt slightly disappointed that Seras was not going to be in the front with him.

Dirge raised his fingers to his mouth and gave a short sharp whistle. He waited a moment before he saw Cerberus pad over from wherever he had been, doing whatever zombie dogs did.

"Come on buddy." Dirge spoke walking around to the rear. He opened the large backdoor and indicated to the dog to get in with his head. Cerberus leapt easily into the back and began sniffing the cans of gas in interest. Dirge shut the door, made sure it was secure and walked around to the driver side.

"Right." Dirge said getting into the car and shutting the door. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Let's see if it starts."

Dirge gripped the steering wheel. Many bright L.E.D. lights lighting up rewarded his efforts.

"Perfect!" Dirge grinned as the car came to life with a quiet whine of electrics and motors turning on. Progress bar like gauges lit up and slowly began filling.

"Where'd you learn all this?" Seras asked curiously.

"You think I've been idle these last years?" Dirge asked. "I've been fixing up a certain car and needed to learn all about them. When you don't sleep you need to keep busy you know."

"Cool." Zoe stated from the back. "You can fix cars now?"

"Yep." Dirge nodded and paused. "Oh, before I forget." He began rummaging around in the small pack he had brought with them. "Here you go."

Dirge handed a tattered pink teddy bear that had seen better days to Zoe who took it and stared in disbelief. Seras leaned over noticing it was missing one eye. The missing eye had been stitched shut in a cross. It also had one of those pull rings dangling from its back.

"Wolfgang!" Zoe breathed hugging the bear. "Where did you find him?"

"Oh my!" the teddy sudden spoke in an English accent. "We appear surrounded by undead."

"When we went back for my books Cerberus found it on the beach."

"How did you know it was mine?"

"You...errr...wrote your name on his butt in permanent marker." Dirge clarified.

"Really?" Seras asked lifting the teddy's rear up.

"Young lady, please!" Wolfgang stuttered in indignation.

Seras blinked in surprise at that and quickly dropped the bear back into Zoe's lap. Zoe began laughing, Dirge quickly joining in. Even Nephthys looked amused.

"How did it know?" Seras asked embarrassed.

"I guess you've never seen these talking toys before." Dirge chuckled. "Very basic A.I. that can react to environmental changes. The blasted thing wouldn't shut up about being wet when Cerberus retrieved it from the beach."

"Nope."

"Anyhow, we better get a move on." Dirge stated. "Seatbelts." He shifted the SUV into drive and the vehicle lurched forward, engine racing.

"Dirge!" Seras shouted as the zombie straightened the vehicle up and flicked the lights on to reveal the road ahead.

"Whaaaaat?" he grinned having done that on purpose for once.

"Don't do that!"

"It's pleasing to see you are back to normal. I was getting annoyed at the emo-zombie act." Nephthys stated.

Dirge harrumphed as a reply.

"Now that we are as safe as we can get with Dirge driving," Which earned her a glare, Nephthys continued. "Seras, you were going to tell us what you know about them."

"Them?" Dirge asked before realising. "Oh...them..."

"I'll start at the beginning I guess." Seras said adjusting her position to get more comfortable. "You all saw what happened on the bridge correct?"

"No. I was lying broken at the ravine bottom." Nephthys stated calmly.

"Oh." Seras muttered. "Okay, anyway I specifically drank Mr. Ggothua's blood...or what passes as blood for him. I needed to know what he was."

"Wait a minute!" Dirge's eyes focused on Seras in the rear-view mirror. "Everything you consume becomes a part of you right? You mean to tell us you've got one of those...things inside you?"

"Yes." Seras muttered. "Can I continue without you interrupting every few minutes?"

Zoe stared at Seras suddenly uncomfortable at the thought of that thing being inside her.

"Don't worry. He or should I say, they can't get out." Seras comforted Zoe seeing the girl shifting in her seat.

"You said they?" Nephthys questioned. "You imply there was more than one."

"Yeah. There were three remember." Dirge stated.

"I drank from the body of one." Seras said. "It may have been only one body but there was more than one mind inside. Much like myself actually. In fact I think there are thousands of them out there, hiding somewhere in the dark, in the cold, all working towards some goal. I managed to invade their hive-mind for a few moments. They did not like that and cut Mr. Ggothua and myself off from themselves, like cutting off a foot that was infected with gangrene."

"Nasty." Dirge remarked.

"It was his shock and fear at that occurring that made him drag me back through the scanner."

"Yeah, and the guns made short work of you two." Dirge stated. "How did you survive?"

"The guns only blew me into little tiny chunks. It took some time but I pulled myself back together, sort of like when I rejoin after becoming a swarm of bats. Of course, it hurt like buggery." Seras said and then in a voice to quiet for the others to here mumbled. "I don't know how Alucard enjoyed doing that!"

"I should have realised." Dirge muttered under his breath.

"I suspected they were not singular beings. I never guessed there were thousands of them. Are you certain that is what you saw in their mind?" Nephthys asked.

"I can't be sure. I felt an overwhelming presence of minds. There could be many more than I could actually make out. Possibly millions, I just don't know." Seras shook her head. "But what I do know is what they call themselves. The Xar. And the last and most important thing is...they hate and fear Zoe for some reason."

"What?" Zoe stared at Seras as if she had grown another head. For the life of her, Zoe could not imagine how those giant monsters could be scared of her. "They are scared of me? Why?"

"I don't know." Seras told her. "I'm still trying to break into his mind. Whatever Ggothua is he's damned hard to crack."

"What do you mean by that?" Dirge asked.

"Put it this way, I've eaten him but he's still in my stomach slowly digesting."

"It cannot escape?" Nephthys asked slowly thinking about the comparison to eating Seras had just used. If the vampire could not digest it could it escape?

"Not that I've ever heard of." Seras grinned evilly. "Once a part of me, it's always a part of me."

Nephthys turned her attention carefully back to the road ahead and leaned back into the seat, her mind going carefully over the information Seras had revealed. She kept going back to Seras saying she was still digesting the Xar. Six years she had that creature inside of her and she had not tamed it yet. That was dangerous Nephthys finally decided. She would have to watch the vampire closely from now on, just in case.

------------

High above the highway well out of range of detection, the insect like probe hovered as it tracked the single car moving northwards. It followed on fluttering wings, mindless in its pursuit. However, the minds directing the probe watched on with malevolent intent.

Behind the probe's single lens or maybe it should be called an eye, a conversation was taking place in a language not meant for human ears.

"The Sera is moving north."

"This is unacceptable."

"The variants have made contact with it once more. They aim to protect it."

"Impediments to renewal."

"The vampire creature also defends it."

There was silence at those words as the minds calculated carefully their chances of defeating the powerful and dangerous creature that had made short work of their Ggothua soldiers six years previous.

"Unacceptable. We must destroy them." One finally spoke its thoughts.

"The vampire creature is aware of us."

"It invaded six human years ago."

"It will be prepared for us this time."

There was another silent pause.

"As are we. The Hands of God are prepared."

"The Hands failed us last time."

"This time will be different." The voice of the Hands spoke confidently. "The project was successful. The captured vampire creature gave its secrets to us. We have it weaknesses. Our weapons are now capable of defeating one such as it."

"Are we certain?"

"The vampire creature we found was...weaker."

"It still avoided capture for many nights." The voice of the Hands stated. "We destroyed it once our research was completed."

"Very well. We allow this endeavour."

"The Hands are aware of the consequences of this mission?"

"Access by the vampire creature is deemed unacceptable."

"Affirmative. We are aware of our severance from the hive is necessary. We are prepared."

**Chapter 12**

Seras stared out of the window beside her, watching the scenery pass her by. Abandoned cars, trees, moving corpses, all drifted by in darkness of the night. She had found her night-vision was drastically reduced as she was right at this moment. _Not surprising_, she thought with her feeling as weak and tired as she did.

Seras focused her attention away from the scenery and more towards her ghostly reflection in the glass. Her familiar young appearing face stared back at her complete with the knife wound to her left eye. Staring at her reflection, Seras became self-conscious of the mess she was with one eye torn out. In an unusual display of concern over her appearance she decided to try and do something about it.

Her hair being in its usual slightly out-of-control style that had once bugged her when she had been younger was the only thing she could use to try and hide the damage. Her hair never seemed to want to settle into any other style and she often wondered why, even as a vampire capable of shape-shifting, she could still not control it any better.

Seras began to attempt to rearrange her hair so that it would cover over the wound to her face. She managed to partially hide the wound by arranging half of her fringe to partially cover over it. She gave her reflection a grin, which slowly changed to a thoughtful expression. Maybe she would tidy it up a little more. Seras ran her fingers through her hair using them as a makeshift brush. She soon gave up in her attempt to tidy herself up as her hair refused to behave itself.

_It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone right?_ Seras thought to herself and turned her attention to Dirge who was driving. He had his eyeballs firmly fixed on the road ahead while he guided the vehicle.

They were getting close now. Seras could feel her coffin more clearly with each passing mile. They had made good time since picking up the SUV. She expected at this pace barring no unforeseen troubles, they would arrive shortly before dawn. That would give them plenty of time to prepare.

Seras smiled to herself while still studying the heavily muscled zombie, her friend. It felt strange after all these years of being alone in the world to realise she actually had people who would miss her if she ever did die first. She had lost her family at a young age, grown up in an orphanage. As soon as she had been old enough she had signed up with the police force. She had died and ended working for the Hellsing organisation. She had fought undead monsters and even a werewolf before escaping the destruction of London as a true vampire. In all that time she could count the true friends she had on one hand and even then she had been forced to take the blood of one of them.

"What's up?" Dirge asked noticing Seras was watching him in the rear-view mirror. She had a look of contemplation and a faint smile of her face.

"Just thinking." Seras smiled.

"What about?" Dirge wondered aloud. "Or, do I not want to know?"

"Just reflecting on my past."

"Oh." Dirge stated. He then asked slyly. "Any pearls of wisdom you want to hand out?"

"Never upset an elderly butler." Seras grinned cryptically. "You never know what they're capable of."

"Okay." Dirge said drawling the word out. He had no idea as to what Seras meant.

"Is Zoe sleeping?" Nephthys asked looking into the rear and at the girl.

Seras glanced over at Zoe to check. The girl was curled up in her seat holding Wolfgang tightly to her chest and her chin rested on the teddy bear's head. She was fast asleep.

"Yeah." Seras said reaching over and gently brushing a loose strand of hair from the girl's face.

"The young Master is resting. Please do not wake her." Wolfgang whispered at Seras' administrations. She was not certain but the toy sounded as if it was threatening her.

"Err...sure thing." Seras said backing away. The manner and accent the talking toy used to speak with strangely reminded her of Walter. "You know..." Seras said as she eyed the toy warily. "All you need is a nice suit and microfilament wires and you'd be just like someone I knew."

"Microfilament wires?" Dirge asked. "Dare I ask?"

"A cool weapon if you know how to use them." Seras replied.

"What kind of weapon?" Nephthys wondered.

"They're a very fine, razor-sharp set of wires attached to gloves that can be used to slice things into pieces."

"Wires huh? Sounds a little hard to believe, I mean how'd you control them?" Dirge asked.

"I don't know." Seras shrugged. "But Walter was amazing to watch when he used them. The guy was nearly seventy and he still could make short work of ghouls and even other vampires."

"Now I know you're joking." Dirge shook his head thinking that there was no way someone approaching seventy could fight something like Seras.

"It's true. He was the one that made Harkonnen too."

"I'll take your word for it." Dirge muttered still shaking his head. "Speaking of your grossly oversized cannon, it's back at our base of operations. I kept it safe, wondering what to do with it. Guess you can have it back now."

"You've kept Harkonnen safe for me?" Seras stared before breaking into a wide grin. "Thanks a load! I thought I had lost him when I couldn't find him anywhere. Dirge you're the best!" She gushed.

Dirge glanced in the rear-view mirror not sure if Seras was actually being serious. She was grinning like a kid let loose in a candy store.

"Weeell…I don't like to brag but yeah I am." Dirge grinned back.

"Modest too." Nephthys added before shifting in her seat so she could look at Seras. "Now that Zoe is asleep, there are questions I need to ask."

"Such as?" Seras' grin faded at the serious tone of the zombie.

"Zoe. Have you done anything to her?"

"I've already told Dirge I've done nothing to her." Seras stated coldly. The atmosphere in the car began changing rapidly. "I would never harm her."

"Please, do not be offended by my question." Nephthys apologised. "I just wish to exhaust all possibilities."

"What possibilities?" Seras questioned.

"Have you noticed anything…unusual about Zoe recently?"

Seras glanced over at the sleeping girl and pondered Nephthys' question. Come to think about it, she had noticed Zoe seemed to have regained her strength incredibly fast during their journey towards Walker's hellish warehouse. In all the excitement she had forgotten about it.

"I…yeah." Seras frowned turning back to the zombies. "During the journey across the rooftops…one minute she was knackered and the next she was suddenly fine again. I had been meaning to mention it to her before everything went to pot."

"Hmmm." Nephthys nodded. "Was that the first time anything like that has occurred?"

"Yeah." Seras answered quickly. "I can't remember seeing her do anything odd before then. Why? Did something happen while I was out of it?"

"Yes. Are you aware she gave you blood?"

"Vaguely." Seras admitted. "I know she saved me."

"That she did." Nephthys confirmed. "You took enough blood that she all but collapsed. She indicated to me that she felt cold." Seras looked surprised at that and was about to speak when Nephthys continued. "However, her wounds seemed superficial and within minutes she was back on her feet. That is not normal for a human. It should have taken her a day or more to fully recover, yet she is perfectly well and even kept pace with us until dark."

"She also doesn't have a mark on her even after nearly blowing herself up." Dirge added.

"Zoe was able to make out a bird in the fading light that I was unable to see." Nephthys stated towards Seras. "It made me think about your ability to see in the dark."

"Well, I haven't done anything that could cause that in her." Seras frowned. "So what you're saying is she seems to be able to heal fast. Recovering in minutes from a wound that should have taken days like…"

"Like a vampire?" Dirge offered.

"I was going to say regenerator." Seras huffed and answered the question she could see on Dirge's non-existent lips. "And before you ask, they're a human that heals wounds almost as fast as a vampire. I can assure you Zoe is very much alive. I can hear her heartbeat. Sense her warmth. Smell the sweetness of her blood."

"Is it…such a good idea for you to be…you know, near her alone?" Dirge hesitatingly asked. "When you got sick with Nekrosis the other time you didn't want to be left alone with her in case you attacked her for blood."

"It's not a problem anymore. She is my master." Seras stated as if that would explain everything. Dirge and Nephthys exchanged a glance.

"Exactly what does that mean?" the big zombie queried.

"I've allowed myself to become her servant. I'm, how should I put this? Bound, for want of a better word to her will. As such I am incapable of harming her unless she commands it." Seras explained. "If she gives me an order I must do my best to fulfil it."

"Yet, you took her blood earlier. Does that not come under the rules of not hurting her?" Nephthys asked watching Seras' face, carefully searching for any sign of misdirection.

"That's because she offered her blood to me willingly." Seras replied her voice and remaining eye hard as she met the Egyptian's careful stare.

"I see." Nephthys said slowly. "This bond…is it permanent?"

"Until such time she releases me from it." Seras tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I honestly did not think it would form as it has."

"How do you mean?"

"I don't actually know how to create such a bond. I guess it became real once I decided she was to be my master." Seras thought aloud.

"Then this bond is not..." Nephthys paused. "Normal? I take it from what little I know of your species, vampires do not bond with humans?"

"No." Seras laughed. "It is definitely not normal. In fact, it's usually the other way around. Vampires have been known to bond humans to them to protect them during the day while they sleep. Normally the only other time this sort of bond occurs is when a vampire sires a childe, turning a human into a vampire. Until the master vampire releases the childe they are bound to serve the master." Seras' expression turned thoughtful. "I wonder…is this sudden bond between Zoe and me due to whatever the Hellsings had done to my sire in the past?"

"The humans, these Hellsings, did something to the one who made you?"

"Yeah. At least I'm pretty sure they did." Seras stated. "I never did find out what it was, but I do know he is not a normal vampire."

"Then does that not also make you not a normal vampire?" Nephthys asked. Dirge gave a quick glance in the mirror at that question. He was curious as to what Seras' reply would be.

"Put it this way, this wound should have really killed me instantly." Seras said pointing to the bandages wrapped around her chest. "No vampire I've met since leaving England could have survived this. In fact, the ones I met in my travels seemed shocked at how powerful I was compared to them. They wouldn't even believe me when I told them my age."

"Question for ya." Dirge piped up. "Just how strong are you really? I got the impression you were playing with those things six years ago."

"Who knows?" Seras shrugged. "I've yet to meet someone stronger, aside from my sire."

Dirge raised the remains of his eyebrows in surprise. "Your sire is stronger than you?"

"I'm going to say hell yeah!" Seras laughed. "I'm strong but unless he's been sleeping all this time I'm no where near his level. What do you think caused most of the destruction of London at the turn of the millennium?"

"You…you're serious?" Dirge asked trying to imagine one person wielding enough power to level a city.

"Deadly." Seras said seriously.

"Interesting." Nephthys stated. "And in time you could grow to that sort of power?"

"I suppose so." Seras hesitated. "But I don't think I want to take that much life into myself. If I did, I'd know I'd have truly become a monster. He…well revelled in it, enjoyed the power. I won't lie; it is intoxicating the rush of power. It would be so easy to lose myself in it"

"You make it sound like you are afraid of your power."

"No." Seras gave a fanged grin. "I'm not afraid of the power. I just don't want to lose that piece of me that is still…"

"Human." Dirge finished for her. "That piece that proves that no matter what you've become you're still human in someway. That you can rise above the fate bestowed to you and prove to everyone that you're still alive in a manner of speaking."

Dirge finished speaking and was greeted by silence. He glanced to his side wondering if he had just made a fool of himself to see Nephthys smiling knowingly at him.

"Wow." Seras breathed and then giggled. "That was deep."

"Yes, Dirge is quite deep. He just likes to bury it. Deeply. With a shovel." Nephthys joked.

"Hilarious." Dirge grumbled.

"Thank you." Nephthys grinned before turning serious again. "Getting back to our earlier conversation, Zoe's new abilities. There are now two possibilities that I can believe as to how she has gained them."

"Which are?" Seras leaned forward.

"These are just conjecture on my part." Nephthys explained. "It is either down to the reason the Xar wanted her dead or possibly the bond between you two has granted her access to some of your own power."

"I don't think the bond works that way." Seras frowned in thought.

"Did you not state you do not understand how the bond formed?" Nephthys pointed out. "Also, as you claim…you are not a normal vampire. The rules that apply to others may be completely different to yourself."

"I suppose…you could be right." Seras admitted leaning back and folding her arms in thought. She turned to look out the window once more. "Whatever is true, I hope it does not have any more side effects."

"Agreed."

At that, everyone took it as a sign that the conversation was over and remained silent. Dirge kept the SUV heading north while the other passengers stared out the windows deep in thought. The only sound made for the next few miles was drone of tires running over the road and the occasional noise from Zoe as she dreamed.

Seras straightened up as they passed an old sign hidden among the overgrown trees by the roadside. The writing was faded and half obscured but that did not matter, she knew what was written there as she recognised the land.

"Dirge!" Seras spoke excitedly. "Keep your eyes peeled for a junction to our right. I recognise this road. We're almost there!"

"Finally! Some good news." The zombie stated beginning to look for the junction. He eased up, allowing the vehicle to slow down. Nephthys also began examining the road.

"There it is!" Seras pointed out.

"Got ya." Dirge grinned spotting the junction and slowed right down. He eased the vehicle into the turnoff and then proceeded down the old road.

"Careful." Seras told him. "This road was never in the best of repair years ago and I doubt it's gotten any better."

"Okay. This place we're headed. What's it like?"

"It's a very small village." Seras smiled remembering back. "One of those nice little communities where everyone knew everyone else. Kinda backwards technology wise even twenty odd year's back. Basically its just one long street, one small store, a gas station, houses and finally…a church with a graveyard just on the outskirts by the woods. It was quiet, not many visitors, a perfect place to hide."

"I bet."

------------

The forest was silent in the darkness of the night. Nothing moved between the trees and bushes. Not a living creature disturbed the utter silence. No night-time insects darted about. No owls, bats or rodents moved. Nothing but the earth, the trees and the wind existed here.

If anything living had been near they would have paused in confusion as a low rumbling throb passed through the ground. The noise would have been felt rather than heard as it built in power before fading suddenly leaving the world in dead silence once more.

The silence did not last long as something moved between the trees. Branches flexed and snapped as the large something moved past, disturbing them. A low noise somewhere between a gurgle and exhaling was heard as a pulse of blue light flowed down etched grooves in the black armour of the creature that stepped out into the small clearing with a thudding footstep. The creature's weight caused its feet to sink slightly into the moist earth as it stood still.

Three glowing blue eyes set into an armour plated head scanned the forest carefully, sweeping across the clearing almost like a security camera. Slow and steady it moved, not missing anything. The tentacle-like appendages attached to the Xar Solder's faceplate wriggled giving the impression it was tasting the very air like a snake.

Finally satisfied his position was secure the Xar walked further into the clearing. Behind him two others followed their leader closely, each one covering a different area guarding each other. Finally the three stood still and waited.

There was an unseen signal and suddenly the three rocked slightly. One to the back fell to one knee and let out a long drawn out kree noise sounding like a wail of terror. The one to his side inhaled and shook, armour rattling even as it pulsed with energy.

"Collect ourselves." The leader commanded even as he clenched his three clawed hand to prevent it shaking with the noise like sharpened knives sliding across each other. "We were prepared for this."

"We…are…alone." The other solder that still stood managed to speak. "It is…terrifying."

"Agreed." The leader agreed and turned his eyes skywards seeking contact with the scout they had been allowed. "We have a mission to complete. Failure is unacceptable."

"This is worse than…" the standing one started to speak but was cut off as the leader spun angrily to face him.

"Enough." The leader commanded. "We have our mission. The vampire creature is to be eliminated or contained for further study. We are disconnected to protect god from her. Our upgrades will defeat it."

The scolded solder stared at his leader. Finally he nodded. "Affirmative. We will succeed. Failure is unacceptable."

The two turned their attention to the third member who was still on one knee and violently shaking. His fear passing over their link was distracting and the leader felt anger at the weakness this part of him was showing. His own fear at being alone was distracting and he did the first thing that came to him.

Lashing out in anger the leader kicked the third member sending him crashing across the clearing. The shock at being attacked by himself sent the fear of being alone further to the back of his mind as he stared at his leading part.

"You are useless to us. Letting your fear rule you." The leader growled out fixing his third part with a glare. He pointed a claw at the fallen solder. "Useless parts are unacceptable. They are eliminated."

"We…we understand." The fallen one managed to speak. The fear of being removed from the hive faded as a new fear of being eliminated for being inadequate entered his mind as his felt the other parts thoughts about destroying him pass between themselves. Forcing himself back to his feet he did his best to reign in his fear.

"That is…acceptable." The leader concluded after a pause. He then returned his attention to the scout that was still tracking the vampire creature's position.

"They proceed north-north-east." the second part stated analysing the data.

"Their speed has recently decreased fifty-one percent." The leader spoke looking to the third. "They appear to approach their destination."

"Scanning human maps for a settlement." The third indicated beginning to do just that. They soon pinpointed the only logical destination for the variants and the vampire.

"Former human settlement pinpointed." The leader started.

"Designation Mellow Falls." The second continued.

"Population zero. No instruments of renewal available in the zone." The third spoke.

"Zone appears saturated with the vampire creature's energy signature."

"It seems to obscure brief scans. It is only detected due to having vampire creature's energy signature on file."

"Clever." The leader stated almost sounding impressed.

"Speculation." The second spoke their thoughts. "The vampire creature may have accessed more information than believed. It may have knowledge of our sensory capabilities."

The three shared a look.

"This is…unexpected."

"Or just random chance."

"An irrelevant detail." The leader stated. "We proceed as planned."

"They have terminated their movements." The second spoke as they received the video feed of the vehicle the vampire was in stopped on the far side of the small village.

"They proceed on foot towards a human burial zone." The third stated.

"Excellent." The leader nodded. "The Hands of God proceed to their coordinates for interception."

------------

Dirge eased up on the gas, allowing the SUV to crawl to a slow fifteen miles per hour. He used the slow speed to give him time to have a good examination of the street. Seras was correct in how she described the village; it was barely more than a row of houses lining a single road.

All the houses had what was once a decent sized lawn in front of them, now overgrown with tall grasses and weeds. He spotted a forlorn rusty lawnmower abandoned in the grass as they passed by. The next overgrown lawn up had faded plastic garden toys; he managed to make out a slide hidden among the weeds.

The houses set further back were of plain construction, nothing special although they did seem to be fairly large. Faded whitewashed walls, some had wooden porches and most where two storey high. There were a few old and rusting pickups parked outside most of the houses, waiting for their owners who would never return.

"This place looks like it was abandoned quickly." Dirge remarked. "It's like a ghost town."

"It wasn't." Seras said, regret heard in her tone. "No one made it out alive. It happened so fast, they weren't prepared for it. No one expected it."

"You were here then, during the outbreak?"

"Yeah." She sighed seeing the ghosts of the past walking in the street. Happy and content people smiling, greeting her and their children playing happily. She knew them all by name.

"Bad memories?" Dirge asked seeing Seras looking saddened. She turned to face him again and nodded.

"The people here…they did not deserve it."

"Not many did." Nephthys spoke up. "How did it occur?"

"Well, when the TV stations went down they just thought it was a cut cable." Seras began. "That had happened a few times before with old man Jones's plough so no one thought anything of that and blamed him for ploughing the wrong fields again. We heard about the dead coming back to life on the radio and nobody believed it thinking it was a joke program. You know the type that tries to be as realistic as possible and so they ignored it. A short while later there were some strange animal attacks on people and livestock. Nothing too weird at first, but of course it got worse."

"Of course." Dirge nodded guessing the rest.

"Yeah. The animal attacks grew more violent and frequent. Eventually one of the guys here got mauled badly. The nearest hospital is quite far away so they tired to get an airlift for him and of course there was no reply. He bled to death. Five minutes later all hell broke loose." Seras finished with a sigh and paused. "It was practically over before anyone could gather a defence."

"What did you do?"

"When I saw the first zombies I took them out quickly. My first thoughts were that another vampire had found me and was sending a challenge, using the people that I had grown close to, to taunt me. I went out into the woods searching for a vampire and found nothing. When I got back I found that there were a few still alive and they had locked themselves in the church. There's only one way in they thought. I couldn't get in without revealing my abilities so I hid in the trees and waited, hoping to get a chance to get inside and save them later."

"And there it is." Dirge stated pointing at the building up ahead. From what he could see it looked like your average village church, stone construction with a single spire.

"Yeah, that's it." Seras confirmed. "Stop there."

Dirge drove the SUV up to the building and parked the vehicle up but left it on. Squinting in the dark he could just make out the shattered windows and the door.

"I guess they didn't make it." The big zombie muttered.

"No. The zombie birds and other zombie animals appeared, all drawn by the smell and swarmed the place. The last few people I knew all died in there. I should have acted sooner instead of hiding away." Seras sighed regretfully while staring at the ruins. "I…well I went berserk seeing them killed that way. I can't remember what I did but when I finally came to nothing dead or alive was anywhere to be seen and I felt like crap. That was my first taste of Nekrosis."

"Bet you puked good." Dirge joked semi-seriously popping the door open.

"Yeah I did." Seras confirmed with a grimace and shook of her head.

"Let us make haste. The sooner you are recovered the easier I'll feel." Nephthys said also opening her door.

"Believe me. I want that more than anyone else." Seras smiled. The vampire undid her seatbelt and leant over to lightly shake Zoe. "Master, we're here. Wake up." Seras' shaking of the girl earned her a disproving 'Oh dear' From Wolfgang.

"Urrg. Wha?" Zoe groaned. The young girl blinked her eyes a few times and looked around in confusion before she remembered where they were. "Seras? We're there?"

"Yep. Now it's my turn to get some sleep and you can watch over me." Seras grinned while undoing Zoe's seatbelt for her. The door by the girl was suddenly opened and Dirge popped his grisly head in.

"Come on ladies get a move on. The sun won't still down forever." The zombie stated before retreating and then making his way to the rear of the SUV to let Cerberus out. Zoe was soon out the door and following the zombie, still holding Wolfgang tightly.

"Need a hand?" Dirge asked when Seras opened the door and began struggling to get her legs out. Seras almost refused the offer in reflex but relented.

"Sure, I guess." She mumbled and Dirge then helped her out of the SUV. Seras found her legs still wobbly as she clutched to the zombie.

"Are you sure you can walk?" Dirge asked in concern.

"Yeah, I did so before." Seras stated placing one foot ahead and almost collapsing if not for Dirge grabbing her.

"Here." Dirge stated lifting her into his arms much to Seras' chagrin.

"I can walk okay."

"Yeah yeah I know. The invincible vampire is only pretending to be hurt." Dirge rolled his eyeballs again. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"Fine." Seras huffed before placing her arm around his neck to make it easier for him to carry her. "I'll pretend." She smiled. "Thanks."

Beside them Zoe began humming away to herself and the pair instantly recognised the tune. The variant and the vampire both sent her a glare that would have frozen most people in fear, but unfortunately for them Zoe was not most people.

"Do you mind?" Dirge growled.

"What?" Zoe asked innocently.

"You know what." Dirge muttered as Zoe went back to humming. He sighed in defeat and addressed Seras. "Where's your box then?"

"In the only mausoleum in the graveyard." Seras told him and pointed towards the single stone structure.

"Well let's go." Dirge stated heading in that direction with Nephthys to his left, Zoe to his right and Cerberus trailing them nose to the ground sniffing all the new scents. As they crossed the graveyard Zoe fell silent, the atmosphere around here seemed off. The closer Zoe got the stronger the feeling became. Even Dirge began frowning as something just on the very edge of his remaining senses made him think something was amiss.

"Do you sense something different in the air itself?" Nephthys asked sniffing carefully.

"Yeah, I think." The big zombie replied and glanced around. Were the shadows closing in or was it just his imagination?

"What you guys are feeling is a left over impression of what I did here." Seras suddenly spoke. "I think. It's a residue of my power when I let loose. It has stained the area and since then even zombies have seemed to instinctively avoid this place."

"Wow." Dirge whistled. "It must have been something to feel it still."

"Yeah." Seras agreed. "Now imagine this many times worse and you can understand why London remained a ghost town for many years after the battle. The dark energies released took years to bleed away enough that people could settle back there without being creeped out all the time."

"The deeds of the past are often remembered by the land even long after all who took part have long since turned to dust." Nephthys spoke.

"It can't hurt us right?" Dirge asked.

"No." Seras replied. "The worse that can happen is you might see an echo of the past."

"Aw perfect." Dirge groaned. "Now we have to worry about jumping at shadows as well."

They did not have far to walk, the graveyard was only small and the group soon found themselves standing by the door to the mausoleum. A plain grey round stone structure decorated with two angel guards by the door. They held their hands together in pray and heads bowed.

"Looks like I'll have to open the door." Dirge commented seeing the heavy stone construction. "Nephthys, help Seras for a moment."

"Of course." The undead woman nodded positioning herself so Seras could use her as support while Dirge gently lowered the vampire's feet to the ground. Once he was certain Seras was in no danger of falling he fully released her.

"Okay." Dirge stated cracking his knuckles while he examined the door. "Here we go."

Seeing no handle or lock on the stone door he guessed it must either swing inwards or just push back into the structure itself. Pressing one meaty shoulder up against the door he braced himself before pushing. The stone door resisted his impressive strength at first, but with dust shaking loose and a rumble the door started to slowly swing inwards. Dirge kept pushing with all his strength, only making very small progress.

"Damn this thing's heavy." Dirge commented knowing that because of how slowly the door moved and not because he could feel it, because, well he could not. At hearing that and wanting to be useful Zoe rushed over and placed her hands against the door as well and helped to push. Zoe's extra help was enough to overcome the door's weight and with the two of them working in tandem the door was soon opened fully.

"Nice one squirt." Dirge grinned down at Zoe who wiped her forehead.

"Phew. That was heavy." Zoe commented.

"Yup but it's now open." Dirge turned to Seras and Nephthys who was now helping Seras approach the entrance. "You okay?"

"I will be." Seras stated as they paused by Dirge. She took the moments rest to glance to the west. The horizon was just beginning to lighten in colour and she could feel that the sun would be rising soon. "Not really a moment too soon either. The sun'll be up shortly."

"Then let's hurry it along." Dirge remarked and proceeded to enter the mausoleum. He paused just inside the door and sighed at the total darkness that engulfed him. He could not see anything in here. "Damn it's dark in here. Where's that flashlight?"

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked confused walking past the zombie. "I can see okay."

"Yeah…must be my eyes going." Dirge remarked slowly not sure whether anyone wanted to mention that was not normal for a human. He stuck his hands in his pockets, found nothing and then rummaged in his small pack. Pulling out what he hoped was the flashlight Dirge pushed his fingers up and down the object. Suddenly a light came on in his hands and he thanked his luck for once.

He swung the light around the inside of the mausoleum. The inside was very plain, in fact there was only one item of interest inside the entire structure. A highly polished dark wood coffin lay in the centre. The ground it lay upon was covered in a fine layer of dust and yet the coffin itself was completely free of any dirt what so ever, almost as if the dust was afraid to touch it.

"This is it?" Dirge asked as the group approached the coffin. He knelt onto one knee to get a closer look at it. It did not seem to live up to his expectations of a vampire's coffin. He had expected something far grander than it turned out to be. The only thing that could be described as fancy was the golden cross on the lid.

"Yeah." Seras grinned happily. "You guys have no idea how glad I am to see it."

"Shall I open it?" Dirge asked. "Or do you want to?"

"Go ahead." Seras chuckled. "Knock yourself out."

Dirge gripped the lid and carefully lifted it off. He placed the lid down gently not wanting to scratch it and looked in. The inside was padded with a medium tyrian purple cloth covering and was empty.

"Where's the dirt?" Zoe asked confused as she stared over the lip. She was on her knees and held onto the lip with her hands.

"Dirt?" Dirge asked looking up at the vampire.

"Underneath the padding." Seras chuckled. "What?" she asked at Zoe's stare. "You didn't think I slept in it did you?"

"What's this about dirt?" Dirge asked again as Seras stepped into the coffin with Nephthys' help.

"Basically I need to have contact with the earth from my land of birth to keep my strength." Seras explained while she was aided down until she was sitting and holding onto the sides of the coffin. "Which is under the padding."

"Oh." Dirge nodded in understanding.

"May I ask a question?" Nephthys asked.

"Sure." Seras agreed and patted Cerberus' head as the dog sniffed around the coffin.

"All this occurred because you did not return to sleep in contact with your homeland." Nephthys stated. "What would happen if your coffin was destroyed?"

"Nothing at first." Seras said calmly. "But in time I'd weaken again. Of course if that did happen I'd have to find a way back to England before I weakened too much. Crossing large bodies of water is uncomfortable at the best of times."

"I see." Nephthys nodded to herself. "Would it not be prudent to have it guarded?"

"I guess." Seras' brow wrinkled in thought. "But who could?"

"We could." Dirge said enthusiastically before reeling in his enthusiasm at the stares. "I…err…mean we could guard it at the hospital as we don't sleep. It's close to the Acropolis so you could return to it easily. Would make it easier to guard Zoe and still get plenty of the rest you need."

"Who says I'm going back there!" Zoe glowered.

"Of course you're going back there." Dirge stated with a look of puzzlement on his decayed features. "It's not safe out here."

"So what?" Zoe growled and folded her arms in defiance. "I am not going back there. I'd rather be out here with you guys."

"What the…hell are talking about!" Dirge spluttered in surprise and pointed a finger at her. "You're only out here to get Seras to her coffin. Once she's better you're going back where you belong."

"What makes you think I belong there?" Zoe narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"You breathe." Dirge pointed out. "And I want you to stay that way. Being out here can only end up one way."

"So? I'd rather end up like that with you guys than wait for it in there. Because it will happen!"

"Seras! Tell her!" Dirge turned to the vampire hoping she could talk some sense into Zoe.

"Sorry Dirge." Seras apologised. "She is my master. I can't change her course, only help her on her way and protect her."

"You…what…but?" Dirge stared his mouth hanging open in despair. He shut his mouth with a clack of teeth and stood up sharply. He turned and walked off at a brisk pace. All eyes followed him and Cerberus whined.

"Dirge." Seras called after him but he ignored her call and left the mausoleum.

"Do not worry." Nephthys told them facing the exit. "He won't go far. He just needs to let off some steam." She turned to Zoe. "Zoe, Dirge cares about your safety deeply. He wants you to be safe and happy."

"Then why doesn't he want me to be near him?" Zoe asked frowning.

"Dirge believes the best place for you is with other humans. So much so that he forgets you might have different ideas." Nephthys explained. "He thinks he is doing what is best for you, even at the expense of his own feelings. I have watched him mope over the monitors many nights missing you…and Seras" she added. "But he would miss you far more if you were killed."

Zoe stared carefully at Nephthys before turning her attention to the exit where they had last seen Dirge. "I don't want to go back. They aren't really alive. Sure their heart's beat and they breathe but they aren't really alive. Not where it matters."

"Not all of them Master." Seras whispered drawing their attention. "Some are trying the best they can. If they weren't I would have taken you from them long ago."

"What?" Zoe frowned in confusion.

"There are people among them that are wiling to continue fighting for survival. Your mother is one. Barrack another. Even Camden believe it or not." Seras smiled guiltily thinking of the jokes she had played on him and yet he still kept going back down to engineering on a night trying to catch the ghost, even though he was terrified.

"But…"

"There are those that would follow someone strong. Someone who can organise them." Seras said trying to plant some seeds. "Barrack is a good enough leader, but he doesn't want to push or risk people's lives. Sometimes that is not enough. Especially with the Xar out there." She then faked a yawn. "I'm tired, I need to rest. I'll see you guys tonight once the sun sets."

"You only need a day's sleep?" Nephthys asked surprise. "I expected, longer."

"I heal fast." Seras grinned as she lay back. It was at that moment Zoe felt something strange come over here, a sensation of falling away. She leaned closer to Seras and her eyes glazed over.

"The fiend in red plots your doom." Zoe suddenly stated in a cold emotionless voice causing both Seras and Nephthys to look at her curiously.

"Excuse me?" Seras asked frowning and sitting up again.

"What?" Zoe asked blinking and wondered what Seras was asking her.

"You said something weird there." The vampire stated staring hard at Zoe.

"No I never."

"I'm afraid you did." Nephthys confirmed. "Who is the fiend in red?"

"The who in what?" Zoe asked puzzled.

Seras and Nephthys exchanged a confused glance. Neither knew what the girl had said or why she seemed as confused as they did.

"Something fishy is going on here." Seras said still puzzling.

"Indeed. I have a sudden impending feeling of trouble." Nephthys agreed. "This may have bearing on what we talked about earlier."

"Yeah." Seras nodded as she lay back and closed her only eye. "We'll discuss it later, but right now I'm knackered. If you want, move into one of the houses for the day. It'll be more comfortable for you guys but just make sure you put the lid on if you want to move me."

"Okay Seras." Zoe nodded and got no reply. "Seras? Guess she goes to sleep fast too."

"Apparently so." Nephthys confirmed picking the coffin lid up and carefully placing it back on the coffin. Once it was secure she stood back up. "Come along, we should make sure Dirge does not go too far." She did not say it aloud but the feeling of trouble approaching was growing. She would feel better if they were all together for the day.

"Okay. But what about Seras?"

"Zombies do not attack corpses." Nephthys smiled. "Believe me I know. She will be safe for now."

------------

Inside Seras a former Xar raised his massive head and stared towards what he assumed was the sky. Something had suddenly changed. The atmosphere was different.

"You feel it don't you." The fiend beside him stated in his smooth and yet also gravelly voice. "Her guard is down."

"Yes. We feel a…change." Ggothua stated and turned his massive bulk to face Fiend. The grey skinned vampire smirked in what could only be described as pure evil intent.

"She is at rest. Alone and vulnerable to you and only to you." Fiend explained. "Find her quickly we must."

"And how exactly will we achieve that goal?" Ggothua asked flexing his claws in barely restrained excitement. At last he had a chance at getting back at the vampire. His exposed tentacles writhed above his head at the thought of beating the vampire.

"That should be simple. The barriers are all down and there is nothing preventing any of us from attacking her, however due to our submitting to her will we can not sense her as she rests in this place." Fiend paced with his long fingered hands held behind his back while he talked. It was a habit Ggothua had noticed about the vampire.

"I can however." Ggothua hissed feeling out with any of his available senses. It did not take him long, he sensed her. Her presence was near yet far away. Strange, but like this world, nothing was what it seemed here. "Vampire designation Seras Victoria pinpointed." Ggothua stated in triumph before setting off at a fast jog towards the vampire, his feet sending thudding vibrations out with each step.

"Everything is as planned." Fiend laughed but it came out more like hissing than true laughter as he was forced to run to keep up with the massive black armour creature that was Ggothua.

With every step the vampire seemed to get further away and also closer. Ggothua picked up the pace and soon he saw something out of place in the usually featureless world.

A lone box lay on the ground. As he drew up to it and halted, he recognised it as a coffin. An item humans used to bury their dead, at least before Nekrosis was released upon them.

"That is her coffin." Fiend spoke seemingly to materialise beside Ggothua. "She should be inside."

"Then let us open it." Ggothua growled. He reached down and slammed his claws into the lid, gripped it tightly with the sound of wood splintering and ripped it clean off. The massive creature threw it away and dropped to his hands and knees to bring his jaws close to the vampire inside.

Ggothua stared down at the vampire. He could not believe it, here she was lying there totally oblivious to the fact he was right above her his teeth barely inches from her face as he exhaled. He had her finally. He clenched his claws together, tearing the ground easily from where he had embedded them. He was going to hurt her as much as she had him.

He raised his right arm above his head, tensed his muscles for a moment and then with a roar that would put a lion to shame he thrust his fist at Seras' defenceless head.

His massive fist came to a halt before it could smash the sleeping vampire, blocked by Fiend who stood calmly holding Ggothua's forearm preventing him from crushing the bane of his existence.

"Fool!" Fiend hissed angrily. "Killing her is the last thing we need!"

"Explain your actions Fiend." Ggothua growled narrowing all his eyes.

"Think before you act." Fiend stated still holding Ggothua's arm. "And to think I credited you with intelligence." He shook his head disappointedly. "We are all part of her now. If you destroy her you kill us all!"

"Some may consider that a final act of…kindness." Ggothua stated pulling his arm free and glaring.

"Be that as it may, I did not approach you for you to destroy me." Fiend glared his eyes glowing faintly. "I want revenge on her not my own death."

"Elaborate." Ggothua commanded. "If we deem your reasons not to our liking we destroy her. We would welcome oblivion before this existence."

"Listen to me Ggothua. You have a chance at power beyond your imagination. You can become the dominant mind in this body, gaining all her power, which I may add was enough to defeat both myself and you even. Imagine wielding that strength against your enemies. If you do this, she will never awaken from her slumber and you can be satisfied that she is as good as dead and you have gained incredible power. Does that not appeal to you?" Fiend spoke smoothly, putting his case forward like a lawyer might.

Ggothua remained silent and unmoving as he regarded Fiend and conversed internally. Fiend waited for Ggothua's answer, beginning to wonder if he had made an error approaching the strange creature.

"You put forward an interesting proposal. We agree to this." Ggothua finally stated and Fiend almost allowed himself to show a weakness, almost sighing in relief. "Despite not destroying her outright it is almost a fitting end for her."

"Then you agree?"

"We are in agreement." Ggothua stated. "How do we achieve control?"

"I believe you simply take her place in the coffin." Fiend said which earned him a stare somewhere between disproving and disbelief.

"We are far too large."

"Ggothua, Ggothua, Ggothua." Fiend sighed. "This place is not real. Neither mass nor volume has any meaning. You will fit."

"Very well. You may remove her for us."

"As you wish." Fiend grinned with a deep bow. He then carefully removed Seras from the coffin and walked a few steps away from it, carrying the sleeping vampire. He knelt slowly placing her on the ground and then gave her a nasty smirk. "My revenge is complete. I only wished it was I taking your power."

He turned back to Ggothua who was standing in the coffin now. Somehow the coffin had expanded to take the creatures bulk.

"We require one final piece of information." Ggothua stated.

"Ask."

"What do you gain from this? We suspect there is more than your revenge."

"Very true." Fiend agreed. "I am hopeful that in time you learn the vampire's abilities and perhaps…remember my contributions. Perhaps in time you may find a way to release me from this place." Fiend said hopefully.

Ggothua examined the vampire for a moment before nodding. "We understand."

Fiend watched in interest as Ggothua lay back in the now much larger coffin and soon his multiple eyes shut. As he watched the coffin lid reappeared sealing the former Xar away. Fiend grinned baring his fangs in a twisted parody of happiness.

"And once I'm sure this plan has worked my large friend…" Fiend stated. "I will eagerly await for the time you must rest like Seras before you and take the body from you. For you see my friend, I have never submitted to you."

**Chapter 13**

The sound of squealing metal was loud enough to hear over the rumbling hum of the Ark's engines as the massive vehicle slowly but steadily pushed its way through the abandoned cars that littered the highway. The various cars where pushed to the side by the wedge shaped former snowplough on the front of the Ark and scraped down the sides with a screeching noise when they caught.

"How's it holding?" Priest asked Hammer who was driving the Ark. He was standing to the side and slightly behind the driver's seat, holding onto it for balance as the Ark vibrated violently and at times got caught for a moment on the scrap metal outside. It would shudder to a halt momentarily until the driver increased the power to the engines to overcome the friction.

"It's playing hell with the paint work." Hammer replied with a grin while concentrating on keeping the Ark moving forward. Of course Hammer was not his real name, but everyone ended up calling him that. He was a big man, a former car mechanic used to shifting large lumps of metal around all day in the garage. Shaven head and tattooed arms, he would look at home seated on a large bike. "Engines running up to forty percent of full throttle, though the temps are rising. If it gets much worse than this we'll have to stop and push or at least clear some of the crap outta the way."

"If the temperature gets too much we'll stop." Priest nodded glancing at the gauges.

"Ya sure this is the way?" Hammer asked while shifting a lever violently as the Ark shuddered again. "Aww crap, something's caught again." He let go the wheel and began pulling on levers and flicking switches. The noise of the engines changed tone as the Ark was shifted into lower gears.

"They went this way." Priest replied gripping the chair and also placing his other hand onto the console as he was jerked forwards. "It's troublesome that this is the only road accessible."

The screeching of tortured metal echoed up the Ark and suddenly the vehicle jerked forward. Hammer quickly went into action, changing gears again and reapplying throttle.

"I think we've just lost some armour Priest." He stated checking the dials. "One of the cars musta gotten stuck on the plating. Not good mate."

"Stop if you think we need to. It won't do us any good wrecking our only means of transport. As much as I want to catch them we need our home in working condition." Priest told him slapping Hammer's shoulder lightly in a friendly manner. "I'll trust your judgement on this one."

"I think the old girl'll hold out for a little while longer."

Further back down the Ark, Zora sat clutching onto the seat as the large vehicle jerked, juddered and shot forwards. She did not think she could stay on her feet with the movements and thanked God silently that she did not get motion sickness. Speaking of God, she glanced up the Ark at Priest as he stood by the driver.

_How could he do...that_ She thought to herself with a frown on her face. There was no way she could rationalise how he managed to erect an invisible barrier around himself...and that book. It was impossible and yet she had witnessed it with her own eyes. He had captured each and every one of those undead birds in a sheet of paper. It had been paper, she had checked picking up pieces of blackened and burnt paper when they had removed all the cooked bodies off the Ark. _Just where had it all come from?_It was not possible to create something from nothing.

She could believe the genetic modification he claimed to have been put through but that could not explain his other abilities. Zora did not, could not believe his claim of his faith giving him the power to repel the undead. _There has to be a proper explanation to it! _Zora thought but for the life of her she could not think of one.

So caught up in her thoughts she completely missed the incessant beeping of her radio in her backpack over the noise.

------------

"She's not answering." Soren Barrack sighed in frustration putting the radio down onto the table before him with a thud. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and leaned his head back with a sigh. His usually immaculate uniform looked ruffled as if slept in and he had the air of tiredness hanging around him. In fact he looked worn out.

"It doesn't mean she's in trouble Soren." Professor Tallman looked up from the monitor she was studying. It showed a bird's eye view of the Acropolis, the surrounding areas and lots of green dots. "There could be all kinds of reasons she's not picking up."

"Yeah and none of them are good." He snapped at her angrily. He paused, took a deep breath and then spoke again. "Sorry. I'm a little tired."

"Understandable." The redhead smiled adjusting her glasses. She turned the chair around to face the leader. "We've never seen this before. It's fascinating. Just when we think we've figured out their behaviour they throw us a curveball."

"Damned zombies." Soren growled. "I'm just glad they got back with only minor injuries."

"Blue team was lucky this time." Tallman nodded.

"Lucky? I'd call it unlucky." Soren muttered scratching his beard thoughtfully. "In all the time we've sent teams out they've only rarely ran into trouble with zombies while the vests worked. And even then its only one of two."

"Indeed their sudden change in behaviour is worrying." Tallman agreed checking the monitor once again and scribbling a note down. Soren approached the screen the professor was studying and stared at it intently. The green dots showing on the screen where grouped up in large clumps and moving slowly and relentlessly northwards. Blue team had been almost caught as literally hundreds of undead had run into them. They had barely managed to make it back to the mag-rail line. Luckily they had not gone very deep into the city when the trouble finally found them.

"They're swarming." He stated judging the movement on the screens. "But what for and why are they all heading in the same direction?"

"I would normally say they've smelt something within five miles of them..." Tallman looked puzzled as she talked. "But some of them have already moved in from well beyond the usual five miles radius that they can smell. The red dots are the heat signatures that we can pick out with the satellites." She pointed to the single clump of red on the screen. "That's us and thankfully so far we have been ignored."

"Which is damned lucky." Soren spoke with a tired grin.

"But completely unexplainable." Tallman pointed out. "We've not seen swarms like this since the outbreak."

"Don't I know it." Soren growled remembering the many earlier battles he had been in during those times. "Has anything at all been picked up on the scans further north?"

"There's nothing out there giving off enough heat to be picked up aside from ourselves." Tallman stated. "A lone person or even two won't be picked up with the scanners we have. All I can assume is that something is calling them. But what and why?"

------------

"Careful!" Dirge snapped as Nephthys pushed the coffin too fast and he almost stumbled having to block the momentum. The pair where attempting to carry Seras' coffin towards their transport. Dirge had one end, Nephthys had the other and it was becoming obvious to them both that their inability to sense physical sensations was causing them to have trouble transporting the wooden box. One or the other would move too fast or too slow, not able to judge how the other wanted to move. They had to settle upon watching each other extremely carefully and keeping a constant banter between themselves.

"I am." Nephthys replied coolly adjusting her hold on the coffin.

"Okay. Okay stop." Dirge told her and the pair paused. "This push pulling isn't working."

"I agree. This is most...aggravating."

"This would be easier by myself." Dirge sighed.

"And then you risk tilting this too much. If the lid comes off we don't know what will happen to her."

"I know." Dirge turned his head to stare towards the horizon where the sun was just finishing passing. The day was dawning bright and silent, with only a few clouds to be seen in the sky. The zombie frowned, Nephthys was right; he did not know if the sunlight would kill her now. Turning back to her he had another idea. "How about we go sideways? We should be able to watch each other easier that way."

"Very well." Nephthys replied while shifting her position carefully. Dirge also adjusted his grip on the coffin before looking at the other zombie.

"Slowly on three okay?" Dirge asked and Nephthys nodded in agreement. "Right. One. Two. Three."

The zombie pallbearers set off together keeping their eyes on each other as they carried the coffin sideways. _This was definitely easier_, Dirge thought as they soon managed to make their way over to the SUV. Zoe was stood leaning against the vehicle, arms folded and she did not look very happy. Beside her Cerberus sat on his haunches guarding Zoe and watching the other zombies carrying the strange smelling box.

"Right, let's get this on the roof rack." Dirge said as they stopped. "Three again. One. Two. Three!"

The pair lifted the coffin up above their heads simultaneously and held it there.

"Now what?" Nephthys asked while in the background Zoe looked on apprehensively no longer leaning against the SUV. She hovered behind Dirge.

"Follow my lead." Dirge said slowly taking the finally step to stand right beside the SUV. Nephthys copied Dirge and then they slid the coffin onto the roof rack. "Phew. No accidents." Dirge commented wiping make believe sweat from his brow.

"Good." Nephthys nodded examining the coffin in the light. From what she could see it must have cost a good bit of money to make despite appearing plain. The dark and highly polished wood was quite possibly rosewood and appeared to be excellently crafted.

"Now all I need to do is tie her down and we can find somewhere a little more comfortable than a cemetery to spend the day." Dirge spoke while rummaging around in the back of the SUV for rope. He reappeared carrying a looped lump of high quality rope. "Got the rope." Dirge held it towards Nephthys. "Wanna go over the other side for me and catch it once I've gotten it tied to this side."

"Very well." The undead woman nodded while making her way past Zoe and then around to the other side of the SUV. Dirge began tying one end of the rope around the roof rack.

While this was going on Zoe turned her attention elsewhere now that Seras was secured. She was feeling annoyed she guessed, getting outside and finding Dirge again had been everything she had wanted. To get away from the stares and whispers and back to her friends where she could live how she wanted. She had expected him to be glad to see her, and he had been for a while. But now he wanted to take her back to the Acropolis.

Zoe sighed and looked up at the sky. Why couldn't he just see she wanted to be with them?

While she stared up at the sky her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a child's laughter carried faintly on the breeze that had suddenly picked up. Zoe snapped her head down and stared towards the cemetery. She was certain that the noise had come that way as a chill passed through her. She had a sudden feeling of impending doom as she stared carefully seeking the source.

Ahead she momentarily caught sight of a flash of white moment between the gravestones causing her to stand up straight, heart racing. Beside her Cerberus had also gotten to his feet and was growling.

"What's up?" Dirge asked as both he and Nephthys stopped what they were doing to stare. Whenever Cerberus growled it was not a good sign.

"I think there's someone in the graveyard." Zoe stated and pointed.

"Aww perfect." Dirge stated dropping what he was doing and stepping over to Zoe protectively. Nephthys also made her way over to them and like everyone else examined the graveyard. "Was it a zombie?" Dirge asked removing his shovel slowly from its place behind his back.

"I...I don't think so." Zoe said glancing up at her zombie protector. "It was laughing."

"Laughing?" Dirge asked curiously. "You sure kid?"

"Yeah, definitely laughing." Zoe replied.

"I will check the graveyard." Nephthys offered stepping forward. "Finish tying the coffin down."

"Right." Dirge replied and turned to Zoe. "Stay near me while we get Seras strapped down."

Nephthys waited a few seconds before she stealthily set off, moving towards the cemetery entrance. All the while she swept her eyes over the entire area and strained to hear any sound aside from themselves. She paused by the entrance and sniffed carefully, taking full advantage of her increased sense of smell. After smelling and seeing nothing she entered the cemetery and began checking around the gravestones. She found nothing unusual, not a single sign that someone had passed through here aside from their own footprints. Nephthys decided she would have to venture further in.

While Nephthys was scouting the graveyard, Dirge worked quickly to get the coffin strapped down. He had thrown the rope over the coffin in a crisscross pattern, running from one side of the SUV to the other with Zoe dogging him like a shadow. On the last pass he took the end of the rope, placed one foot against the side of the SUV and pulled on the rope causing it to pull taut. He then tied it off.

"There we go." Dirge stated with a sense of urgency as he glanced down at Zoe. "You, get in the car."

"But..."

"No buts Zoe!" Dirge replied and with a yank, pulled the nearest door open. "Come on." He indicated she should get in.

"The graveyard is clear." Nephthys stated walking into sight from behind the SUV and the sudden noise startled Zoe. Dirge calmly turned to face the other zombie.

"You're sure?"

"Positive. The only tracks I could find were our own." Nephthys turned to stare at the graves once more. She had a pensive look on her face.

"I'm sure I saw something." Zoe spoke up defending her early statement in concern in case they did not believe her. She had had enough of being not believed back at the Acropolis and she did not want Dirge or Nephthys to start as well.

"Cerberus did too." Dirge also glanced into the graveyard carefully. "He doesn't growl unless there was something there."

"Very true." Nephthys gave the silent stones one last look before turning back to her companions. "I believe this may be what Seras warned us about."

"Shadows of the past eh?" Dirge rubbed his chin. "Well...I guess it's possible. I mean Seras is involved right?"

"Correct."

"She said it can't hurt us." Zoe sighed in relief as they had seemed to have decided what it was.

"So she did. But I would rather not put it to the test." Nephthys stated walking past them. "Let us return back to the village and wait there for the sun to set. I have a...feeling. Something is coming. "

------------

The insect looking scout hovered on seemingly far too frail wings carefully above the house the variants had taken the sera and a coffin into. It had already relayed all necessary information required to its masters who even now moved closer. Its current mission parameters were to observe and so it would hover there and transmit until it received new orders.

The scout's single lens-like eye lit up slowly as new orders where sent. It fluttered its wings quicker for a moment before descending slowly towards the house. Carefully drawing close to the building it began sweeping itself across the building's first floor from left to right. It paused momentarily as it scanned the first bedroom. Nothing of interest.

The scout moved over to the next window and proceeded to scan the second room. Its sensors detected a living being inside this room. Heart rate indicated it was sleeping. A deeper scan revealed it was the raven sera, their secondary objective once the vampire creature was destroyed or contained.

The scout moved closer to the window and hovered, its lens merely millimetres from the glass. It watched the room emotionlessly like a security camera and zoomed in on the girl who was lying on a large double bed, cuddled up to a teddy bear.

There was a sudden movement to the rear of the room as the door was cracked open. The scout moved instantly, zipping off to the side and out of sight as someone entered the room. It stayed out of sight while increasing its hearing sensitivity. It detected the sound of light footsteps approaching the bed.

Cautiously, the scout slowly peeked into the room from the lower left-hand corner of the window. It was one of the variants, the female one. She was checking on the girl and had her head facing down. New orders came, avoid all contact and the scout backed away out of sight carefully before rising back into the air with only the faint buzz of its wings giving it away.

------------

Nephthys looked down at the sleeping girl and smiled at the sight. To think she was something the Xar feared. This cute little thing currently holding tightly onto a teddy bear was something that sent fear running down the spines of eight foot tall monsters. How amusing.

Or maybe not. Nephthys was certain they were not afraid of the girl, but more to as to what she might contain. She had her theories as to what it was, but until proven that was all they were. Theories.

A faint buzzing caught the edge of her attention and Nephthys glanced up towards the source. It sounded like it was right outside the window. She curiously approached and stared out into the street carefully no longer able to hear it. The street was as empty and as silent as it had been for the last thirteen hours.

A floorboard creaked behind Nephthys, alerting her of Dirge's presence just before he spoke in a low voice. "Is she sleeping?"

"Yes." Nephthys replied quietly while turning from the window. Dirge wandered over to the bed and looked down at Zoe much like Nephthys before him.

"Good for her." Dirge commented while staring at Zoe as she mumbled something undecipherable. "I wish I could pass the time like that. Sometimes this being awake constantly gets dull. Like now for instance, waiting for the sun to set to see if Seras really does gets better."

"I believe many humans would like the ability to remain awake indefinitely." Nephthys stated walking over to stand beside Dirge.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be." Dirge shook his head amusedly. "The grass is always greener and all that."

"Indeed." Nephthys nodded. The two zombies remained silent for a minute before Nephthys spoke again. "Dirge...Once Seras is awake, what is the plan? I believe Zoe does not want to return to the humans."

Dirge eyeballs rotated to regard her out of the corner of his eye sockets. "It's not a case of what she wants. It's what she needs."

"Hmm?" Nephthys raised an eyebrow in contemplation and indicated for Dirge to expand.

"She needs protecting. Looked after by real people." Dirge sighed. "It's too dangerous for her out here."

"Even if she has the protection of ourselves and a vampire?"

"Especially because of that." Dirge rumbled and indicated themselves. "That vest of hers won't last forever, the batteries will die or it'll break and then...Hell, we both know what her smell does to zombies...to us. It's just asking for trouble."

"You fear you would hurt her." Nephthys surmised.

"Yes." Dirge answered in a small voice. "I've had the thoughts before and it frightens me."

"But neither of us are slaves to our instincts."

"Maybe not...but it's too much of a risk. If...I ever did..." Dirge finished in a sigh, not quite able to finish the sentence. "Besides, the humans have good defences. Far better than anything just the two of us could rig up. She's going back whether she likes it or not."

"I can guarantee she won't."

"And it doesn't matter."

"And what about what you want?" Nephthys asked.

Dirge turned slowly to fully face the Egyptian zombie. He stared for nearly a minute before replying.

"It doesn't matter. What I want is impossible." Dirge replied firmly but sadly as he thought of both Zoe and Seras. "It's just a silly dream that has no chance of happening. But making sure Zoe...they're both safe is enough."

"Is it?"

"It's all that can I do." Dirge stated firmly before turning to leave. "C'mon, I'm going to do another sweep outside. You make sure nothing gets in while I'm out."

Nephthys nodded slowly and followed Dirge out the room. He slowly shut the door and paused just before it closed to give Zoe one last mournful stare before finally shutting the door with a faint click.

Neither zombie saw Zoe sit up in the bed looking upset at what she had heard. Nor did they see her climb out the window, slide down the nearby drainpipe or run off down the street. But there was one eye that did.

------------

Ggothua slowly came back to awareness. From the moment the lid was sealed to now had been like floating in a sea of black nothingness, with the only sensation was of being pulled slowly towards some destination unknown. But now new sensations were becoming known to him.

The first thing that came to him was his awareness of being. He became aware of himself, his consciousness floated to the top and reasserted itself. Along with this came the voices of his other parts, comforting to know.

Next the sensation of touch slowly grew stronger. It grew to the point he recognised and then continued to expand. The sensations of touch became stronger than anything he had experienced, turning not just into tactile sensation but those of temperature as well. He became aware of the body he was now contained in. The shape was foreign and inflexible, fixed in one single shape. A human shape, a human female shape to be exact judging by the sense of weight on the body's chest.

Ggothua felt himself becoming overwhelmed with the flow of input purely from sense of touch. Soon he began setting his other parts away with dealing with the data, freeing him to concentrate more on his situation.

Where was he? Why could he not see or hear yet?

It was decided that the first thing to do was to discover how the body moved. He felt out along the arm sending what he hoped were the correct signals to the hand. He was rewarded with the fingers twitching, sending more sensations back.

The hand lay flat against the floor of where ever he was and as the fingers pulled back he could detect the feeling of them being covered, and yet he could feel the texture of the material under the hand. The vampire's hands must be covered by gloves yet the sensations were as if he could feel from the material of the gloves themselves, as if they were physically a part of the body. As his other parts began deciphering the sensations he came to a conclusion.

_Conclusion._ _The vampire can create coverings out of its body mass. This explains its ability to split apart and reform complete with clothing_, Ggothua thought fascinated by this discovery and more over the fact the vampire could feel with the coverings as easily as its own skin.

He experimented for a while moving the hand and analysing the sensations. It was strange and awkward to control a five fingered appendage being used to only having three. The wrist was restrictive, unable to rotate through all three hundred and sixty degrees unlike his original. A limitation of the human form, he would have to compensate somehow for the loss of movement.

Satisfied that given enough time he could figure the rest of the body's movements out, Ggothua turned his attention of more urgent senses. Sight and hearing. He did not know what other sensors the vampire had but these were some of the most basic and should function similarly to his own former ones.

After the overwhelming sensation of touch this body possessed he was wary of forcing the eyes open in case of another sensory overload. He needed not to have worried when he finally got the eyes to open. The only input was purely image data and he found himself surprised and disappointed. There seemed to be only one type of sight and although he could easily pick out the minutest detail in the wooden lid above him he did not have any of the data floating past his eyes. No multiple views of the same scene in different spectrums of light. No tracking or targeting capabilities became apparent and he wondered how the vampire was such a good shot.

He guessed the ears were working when he made out the sounds of materials rubbing as he open and closed the fingers slowly practicing. Hearing seemed close to what he had once possessed.

Growing more confident that he could move the body he slowly raised the vampire's head to look down the body. He then raised the hand and stared as he visually matched the sensations of the hand to the movements he was producing.

_Fiend was correct_, Ggothua thought. _We have taken control of the vampire's body_. He lowered the hand slowly and poked himself lightly in the stomach area. Ggothua was puzzled as the vampire's body appeared as soft as a normal human. He had expected something else, a tough and strong body and yet it seemed no tougher than that of a human. _Unexpected_, he thought. _We know the vampire possesses_ _great physical strength_ _and metamorphic capabilities. There must be more to the vampire's abilities than we have discovered._ _We will continue to examine the body._

------------

Zoe ran along the street with Wolfgang held in one hand until the house was out of sight and only then did she slow her pace down to a walk. Dirge was going to take her back. That was the only thought going through her head at that moment. After all the trouble, all the danger she had gone through to find him and he was going to take her back.

"It's not fair!" Zoe kicked a tiny stone sending it bouncing down the road. This was not how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be glad she was out here and they could all live together with them all protecting each other. Them against the world, not you're not safe out here so you're going back.

Zoe sat down on the pavement edge depressed over the thought of being taken back and Dirge not wanting her. She held Wolfgang towards herself and sighed.

"You still want me right?" she asked the toy whose eye flickered a couple of times as the basic A.I. went through appropriate answers. It did not understand the question and after a brief scan of the area settled on a response.

"Oh dear. We're outside all alone. It's not safe outside all alone. We should go back." Wolfgang stated.

"Even you're against me." Zoe sighed dropping the teddy to the ground.

"Oh dear, I've been dropped. Please pick me up." Wolfgang pleaded.

"Go to hell." Zoe absently stated while picking up another stone and throwing it across the street. It bounced off a parked car with a ting and came to rest on the road.

"That language is inappropriate for a young lady."

"Bite me." Zoe leaned back placing her hands on the ground and stared up at the bright blue and almost cloudless sky. The pavement was warm under her palms from the sunlight heating it all day and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the temperature bearable. The day was much brighter than she currently felt.

It slowly dawned on Zoe that she really was outside and alone. She had never been alone outside of the Acropolis in the day at all. She glanced up and down the street as she realised just how quiet if was. The lack of noise was beginning to play on her nerves as she sat there. Even in the dead of night in the Acropolis there was always some kind of noise, even if just a faint hum of the air conditioning units or the heating.

A sensation of being watched slowly crept up on her and Zoe found herself looking around nervously for zombies. She looked across the street and over to the darkened windows of the house opposite seeking the eyes that she imagined were staring. Despite the warmth of the day she began feeling cold.

"Maybe I should go back after all." Zoe said quietly climbing to her feet and picking up Wolfgang. She turned to leave when a loud metal shriek of a gate swinging open on rusty hinges came from the house she had just been watching.

Zoe spun quickly and saw what appeared to be a girl around her own age standing on the porch. She blinked and stared at the girl, or at least she thought it was a girl from this distance. The girl had long shiny black hair and was wearing a pure white fancy suit of some kind Zoe did not recognise, complete with an odd furry hat and long white scarf despite the heat of the day.

Zoe stood frozen for a moment wondering if this was a zombie. The girl turned out not to be as she looked right over at Zoe and grinned. Zoe blinked once as the girl vaulted over the porch rails and ran off up the street.

"Hey!" Zoe called after her. "Wait!"

When she did not, Zoe gave chase sprinting after the girl as fast as she could. No matter how hard Zoe pumped her legs she could not gain on the other girl who kept widening the gap between them. Soon they left the houses behind and raced on the road which led to only one place, the church.

As they approached the iron railings of the cemetery the girl in white kept going, running straight for the railings and glanced back over her shoulder seemingly to make sure Zoe was still following.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Zoe called out and the girl laughed before running through the railings and disappearing behind the gravestones. Zoe skidded to a halt in surprise just in front of the rails and stared wide eyed. Did she just pass through the railings like a ghost?

Zoe examined the graveyard apprehensively. Even though the day was bright and warm, the graveyard seemed dull and uninviting; the light fell strangely as if not wanting to touch the area. Zoe glanced around unsure whether she should proceed deeper in or return to get Dirge.

A chuckle ran through the air causing Zoe to glance towards the noise just in time to see a flash of white disappear into the church. _Screw it_, Zoe thought to herself knowing exactly how Dirge would be likely to react. He would most likely shout at her for going outside and then drag her back to the Acropolis. _I'm going to find out who she is!_

Zoe quickly made her way over to the entrance all the time checking the area as Seras had trained her to. If this was an ambush she always had Wolfgang to fall back on, if she could remember the activation code.

The purple-haired girl made her way cautiously up the gravel path towards the church entrance. She paused at the shattered double doors and stared into the murky depths beyond. All the windows had been shattered inwards leaving loads of brightly coloured glass shards lying all over the ground. There were lots of pews all scattered about, only a couple actually still stood. At the rear there still stood an altar covered in dusty candles and golden coloured candle holders. High above that was a large cross with an image of Jesus hanging on it.

Zoe could not see any movement inside so she stepped carefully over the shattered doors and into the entrance. Glass crunched under her boots as she made her way deeper in. Glancing around the floor she noticed there were various bones scattered around.

"Hello." Zoe called out. "Anyone there?"

Silence answered her query even as she walked carefully around the scattered pews. Zoe made her way right to the back of the church and glanced around. She could see no way the girl she had chased could have gone to. There was one large heavy door off to the side from the rear and she wandered over to it.

A quick examination of the handle showed it was covered in a fine layer of dust. It could not have been opened for a long time. Zoe took the handle and tried turning it. The door was locked.

"Bloody ell." Zoe sighed quietly turning around. Taking another sweep of the interior she saw nothing unusual. _Was I seeing things?_ Zoe wondered walking away deep in thought over what she had seen.

A creak behind her was the only warning she had. The large cross on the wall detached itself and fell towards her. Zoe reacted to the noise and the growing shadow behind her by spinning and her eyes went wide in shock as the cross fell towards her. She dodged backwards just in time as the cross smashed into the altar with a loud crash. Old candles and candle holders were flung around, bouncing off the ground with various clatters and rolled to a halt.

Zoe coughed a couple of times as the raised dust cloud tickled her throat and fanned the air in front of herself with her hand. As the dust settled she straightened up, more surprised by what had happened than scared by it.

_I think I better get out of here_, Zoe gulped glancing around nervously wondering if other stuff might just fall on her. As she turned to leave something by the wrecked altar caught her attention. Zoe turned back, took a single step over and knelt down to examine what she had seen.

She shifted some of the splintered wood out of the way and reached into the wreckage. Her fingers closed around a strap of some rough and strong material. She pulled her hand back out and brought with it an old looking rectangular pack. Lifting it up Zoe examined the pack. It was a green with a long strap for a handle. There were words stamped onto it and she wiped the dirt away.

The word Hellsing was wrote in large letters and below that the symbol for radiation. Further down were the words Harkonnen 30mm Anti-Midan Cannon D4 Shell.

"Hellsing?" Zoe whispered. "This must be Seras'."

Zoe rattled the box as it felt very light, she guessed there were none of Harkonnen's shells inside. There was a faint rattle of something light bouncing around inside. The girl was forgotten in her curiosity of what was inside. Zoe placed the box on the ground and flicked open the latches. She lifted the lid up and looked inside. There was only one object inside, a small hard-backed binder with the word diary written on it.

Zoe reached in and retrieved the diary, turned it over once and then opened it. The pages were yellowed with age and it smelled musty but the writing was legible, well kind of. Zoe had to squint hard to make out some of the scrawl. It seemed Seras not a very neat writer.

"Dear Diary," Zoe began reading quietly. "I've finally been accepted into the force!"

------------

Dirge stood outside the house, arms folded and stared off into the distance deep in thought. He was almost dreading the confrontation that was bound to occur tonight when he had to tell Zoe she was going back. She had to; she would be safer with her own kind. That was what he kept telling himself.

Despite his words that it did not matter what he wanted, deep down he knew it did. He truly did not want them to leave him again. At least this time it would not end without them saying goodbye.

Cerberus wandered over to his master and stood beside the large zombie. Dirge absently placed his hand on the dog's head as the pair watched the sun as it began to descend. It would still be light for another hour he guessed.

"Not long now buddy." Dirge said. "Then we can get going. Drop em off and get back to normal."

Dirge patted Cerberus a couple of times as he scanned the street. As it had been all day, it was empty. The only things moving were themselves.

"Come on, let's get inside and check on them."

Dirge turned around and headed back inside. He walked down the hallway and into the room to the back where Seras currently slept.

"Any signs of movement?" Dirge asked Nephthys as he stepped into the room and looked over to the coffin as it sat on the large coffee table.

"She has bumped around once or twice." Nephthys replied as she stood behind the coffin holding her weapon in her hand and its butt resting on the floor like some kind of undead guardian. She had been in that position for hours now Dirge realised.

"Restless sleeper eh." Dirge joked. "Any sigh of Zoe yet?"

"No, she has not made a noise since we last checked on her." Nephthys replied.

"Hmm?" Dirge moved his jaw from side to side thoughtfully. "She must have been more tired than we thought. I'm going to check on her. The sun should be down in an hour so we need to get ready to move."

"Very well." Nephthys replied as Dirge left the room and she went back to pretending to be a statue.

Dirge walked back down the hallway to the bottom of the stairs. He paused and looked at the photographs hanging in frame on the wall here. All showed people who he did not know smiling towards the camera. Happier times he guessed.

Taking hold of the banister Dirge proceeded up the stairs. He reached the top and walked over to the room they had given Zoe to sleep in.

"Hey Zoe. Wake up if you're not already." Dirge said loudly as he opened the door and stepped in. The first thing he noticed was the bed was empty. The second was the window was wide open. If he could have felt anything at that moment he guessed it would be his heart plummeting into his stomach as he began frantically searching the room.

"Zoe?" Dirge called out puling open the doors of a large wardrobe. Nothing but clothes. He dropped to his hands and knees and lifted the bed up just in case she had been hiding under it. Only dust bunnies and a couple of loose coins where under it.

"Aww perfect!" Dirge shouted in frustration dropping the bed and rushing out. He pounded down the stairs and was met at the bottom by Nephthys who had heard all the commotion.

"What is it?" she asked as Dirge pulled to a halt beside her.

"Zoe! She's gone!" Dirge growled thumping the wall and putting his fist through it easily. Most of the pictures fell off from the impact.

"Are you cert..."

"Of course I am!" Dirge snapped ripping his hand free of the plaster. "Quick! You go check down the street. I'll check the houses."

"What of the vampire?" Nephthys asked.

"Seras..." Dirge pondered and looked around thinking about what to do. "Okay. You check the houses. I'll wake Seras and explain what's happened then I'll catch up to you. Cerberus can guard Seras."

"Is that a good idea? What if she does not waken? Or the light hurts her?"

"I'll shut the damned curtains now get moving! Who knows how far she will have gotten!"

Nephthys turned and left at a jog while Dirge rushed into the back and began pulling the curtains shut to block out the light. He then rushed over the Seras' coffin and gripped the lid. He paused unsure what was going to happen before lifting the lid clean off.

"Zoe's gone!"

------------

Ggothua turned the vampire's head to the right to listen into the noises occurring outside of the coffin. He had heard voices. He recognised them both, it was the variants and he felt a bolt of hatred pass through him and felt the vampire's face twist into a snarl from his feelings.

There was a bump and then rushed footsteps before something was pulled shut. Then the lid of the coffin was removed and the variant spoke.

"Zoe's gone!" Dirge's face appeared blocking Ggothua's view and startling the former Xar. Ggothua felt the body blink involuntary and a strange feeling of comfort appeared from nowhere. Ggothua was confused by this and did the only thing he could. He stared. "Nephthys is out looking for her now. I'm leaving Cerberus to watch you. Gotit?Goodseeyabye!"

Dirge disappeared from his vision and there was a thump as the lid was dropped to the ground.

Ggothua lay there for a few minutes wondering what that odd feeling was. The consensus was agreed upon that the vampire's body was responsible. There must be conditioning that they would have to remove later.

_We will get nowhere waiting for them to return._

_Affirmative._ _We must leave quickly._

_They will know we are not the vampire._

_What are our mission parameters?_ A part of him asked and he paused in confusion. Ggothua suddenly realised he did not have a mission any longer. Dying must have done that, erased all of his orders. He was alone and had no idea what he should do.

"I do not know..." Ggothua spoke and blinked in curiosity at the sound of Seras' voice coming from his throat. He paused. No it was the vampire's throat. This however sparked off another conversation.

"I? We do not use that term." Another part of him spoke.

"Are we damaged?"

"I do not know." Ggothua replied and frowned as he had done it again.

"Run a diagnostic." Another part commanded. Ggothua blinked again, he had no idea how the vampire did that. The other parts also realised this. They quickly began trying to figure out how the vampire ran diagnostics and soon gave up.

"Our separation from the hive has damaged our mind."

"It is the only explanation."

"Affirmative." Ggothua stated. "I...we must correct this as soon as possible."

"What are our mission parameters?"

"We must regain contact with the hive." Ggothua stated attempting to move the body into a sitting position with not much success. The body refused to bend in the way he wanted.

"What if they reject us? We are damaged."

Ggothua paused and thought that over. It was true; they had been severed to remove the vampire from the hive. While they possessed the vampire's body would they even be allowed to attempt contact?

"Enough worrying." Ggothua commanded. "We will continue with our previous mission. We will capture the sera and present it to prove our loyalty is still intact. The hands of god shall prove themselves."

With his course decided Ggothua gripped the edges of the coffin and used the vampire's arms to pull himself into a sitting position. It was an odd sensation to the former Xar as parts of the vampire's body moved around uncontrollably messing around with his movements. He decided already that the soft fleshy parts were going to be an annoyance.

Still gripping the sides of the coffin to make sure he did not lose his balance he moved the head around. He swept his eyes from left to right slowly and slightly jerkily. He picked out the form of the large variant dog watching him, its head cocked at an angle. It appeared to have been repaired since their last encounter. At the moment it seemed docile and content to just watch. It must assume they were the vampire.

Ggothua turned to look over the edge of the coffin. Now all he had to do was get out of the wooden box. He began figuring the legs out. They twitched and sometimes kicked with each attempt to move them. After five minutes of experimentation he managed to pull them underneath the vampire's body, it was strangely uncomfortable. He was not used to the body giving discomfort to movements that should be easy.

He then tried to lift the body up to its feet. This did not work how he expected it and the movements ended up making the coffin rock violently. He realised too late that they were going to tip. Ggothua was flung out of the coffin and fell to the carpeted floor in a pile of tangled limbs, cracking his new nose off the ground. The coffin fell with a crash onto their back.

"I believe the human's phrase is...ow." Ggothua stated through the pain as he rubbed the nose and began to free himself from the coffin. He glanced at Cerberus who gave a doggy grin as if he was laughing at them. Ggothua promised to himself to come back later and destroy it.

Climbing awkwardly to his feet, Ggothua wondered how the vampire put up with this body. His nose and chest area hurt, especially the chest area from falling a couple of feet onto unforgiving ground. The sooner he figured out the transformation abilities and got back to a familiar shape the better.

The former Xar was finally on his feet and standing still. He nodded, pleased with his performance so far in this alien body. A quick examination of the room revealed the exit.

"The variant informed us that the sera was missing." Ggothua stated.

"How do we find it?"

Ggothua wondered that. He thought about the sera and there came a faint tug on his thoughts. Turning in what he assumed was the direction he had felt he focused a little more and sure enough that feeling grew stronger as he looked in the direction he was now facing.

"It appears the vampire has a transmitter placed on the sera." Ggothua stated feeling a smirk cross his lips.

------------

Zoe turned the last page of Seras' diary she had found. It had been a fascinating insight into her protector. Seras had written down all of her experiences from joining the police force till around the year two thousand and five when her entries stopped. Her last one was about discovering other vampires in America.

Zoe stared at that last page deep in thought. Seras had written many things about her experiences in Hellsing. She seemed to hold the leader, Integra in high regard. Praising how just a human went and faced down a powerful vampire by herself.

Seras' thoughts on Alucard, the vampire who had changed her were weird. Sometimes deathly afraid of him, other times annoyed at him and sometimes even complete and utter adoration.

The page Seras had wrote about Pip's final act were dotted with a couple of faded red splashes. Zoe guessed they were blood, tears of blood. But the way Seras detailed everything she had done to Zorin made Zoe's stomach churn. Seras had went into minute detail into each and every wound she had inflicted on the fake vampire.

Her early entries seemed unlike the Seras Zoe knew, she seemed too bubbly sometimes childlike in her writings often going to great lengths to say how she hated seeing humans killed even if they attacked her. It was interesting how she had changed over the years in her writings.

"I guess that's what growing up is." Zoe muttered. The diary gave her a lot to think about, how despite getting into bad situations and losing people close to her Seras had kept going and never truly lost that piece of her that was human. Seras had never given up protecting people she had met; even her last entry was about going to protect the humans in that town named Sunnydale from the other vampires.

The crunch of glass startled Zoe and she glanced up her heart suddenly pounding as she stared towards the source of the noise. Zoe relaxed and let out a sigh of relief when she recognised Seras standing in the darkened doorway of the church. She had not realised it but the sun was setting.

"Seras. You startled me." Zoe stood up and closed the book. "I...erm found your diary. I hope you're not mad that I read it."

Seras stared at her making Zoe squirming uncomfortable under that faintly glowing blue-eyed gaze. Zoe blinked as she realised Seras had let her eyes turn back to blue but it was also the first time she had seen Seras' eyes glow blue.

"Seras?" Zoe asked as the vampire moved towards her stiffly, almost robotically. All the time her eyes stayed fixed on Zoe even if she had to move her body around obstacles. "Are you okay...?"

Seras drew up to Zoe and stared down at the girl. Her expression remained neutral.

"You found...my diary?" Ggothua spoke slowly and carefully trying to keep the hatred from his voice at being so close to the sera. "Give it to me. Now!"

"O...okay." Zoe handed the book over and it was snatch from her hands. Ggothua flipped it open and rapidly scanned over the first few pages. It was indeed a book detailing the vampire's existence. He would study this later, it may contain vital information and he pocketed the small book. While he did that, Zoe retrieved Wolfgang from beside the empty box.

"Come with me if you want to live." Ggothua stated grabbing Zoe's arm in a tight grip.

"Ow! Hey Seras your hurting me!" Zoe shouted as Ggothua turned to leave dragging Zoe with him. "Seras!"

Ggothua ignored the girl's pleas and continued dragging her towards the church exit. He had to get them out of here soon if he wished to avoid the variants. This body was too new, too alien to him and he suspected if the variants figured him out they would easily capture him. He needed to time to grow accustomed to this form before a confrontation.

"Seras! Let me go!" Zoe commanded.

Ggothua was surprised as he felt his fingers involuntarily release the girl's wrist and she fell back onto the ground. Zoe blinked in surprise from the sudden pain in her rear while Ggothua stared in confusion at his hand.

_Why did I do that?_ Ggothua thought with a hint of fear. _Does the sera_ _have some power over the vampire?_

"What did you do that for?" Zoe shouted climbing back to her feet. When Seras just continued staring at her hand Zoe demanded an answer. "Answer me!"

"I do not know." Ggothua replied automatically and stared at the sera suddenly concerned. It had just confirmed to him that it had some kind of control over his actions.

"You don't know eh?" Zoe stated hands on hips and glaring. "What's wrong with you?"

Ggothua felt the need to answer her, a pressure building in his skull demanding he reply but he knew if he explained the truth she would most likely run from him. He needed to answer quickly without giving himself away.

"I...am not feeling...myself." Ggothua replied and mentally noted she may be able to command him but it was up to him how he achieved what she asked. He would be able to lie to the sera as long as she did not command the truth from him. "A side effect from sleeping."

"Oh." Zoe relented satisfied with the answer. "Don't grab me like that again okay."

"Affirmative."

"Affirmative?" Zoe blinked. "Since when do you talk like that?"

Ggothua mentally growled and searched for an excuse. "I...am being...affected by other parts of me. I will endeavour to control them."

"Cool, I guess." Zoe rubbed her wrist. "So what's the rush? Is Dirge mad I ran away?"

"Affir...yes." Ggothua replied catching himself. "We must leave before the variants discover we are gone."

"We're just going to take off?" Zoe asked wandering closer to Seras.

"They will return you to the humans. That is unacceptable."

"I know. I'm not going back." Zoe stated with a frown. "Where will we go?"

Ggothua smirked in a pleasant surprise. It seemed to sera was willing to leave the variants and also did not want to be returned to the humans. This would make things much easier for him. He quickly glanced around and decided to head deeper into the woodlands behind the church.

"We will head into the woodlands. Let us move quickly."

The former Xar turned towards the woods along with Zoe and the pair froze in surprise as there was a sudden hum of energy building before a flash of blue energy was seen. The trees nearest to them violently exploded sending glowing red wood chippings and dirt their way. Ggothua was thrown to the ground from the shockwave and being unused to the body while Zoe shielded her eyes with one arm.

Ggothua managed to sit back up and stared in surprise while Zoe gasped in fear at what stepped forward and through the smoke. Three large black creatures straight from her nightmares stood in the fading light. Blue energy crackled and pulsed down their armour plated bodies making her teeth vibrate in time along with it.

"We find that...unacceptable." A gurgling voice stated menacingly.

**Chapter 14**

Hiss. Gurgle. Bloop.

The sound of Xar breathing.

That was the only sound that could be heard by human ears as Zoe and Ggothua stared up in surprise at the massive forms of the Xar soldiers. Zoe took a step backwards in fear, her sudden movement caused a reaction from the armour plated creatures as they focused their tri-eyed stared on her. She had the distinct feeling they regarded her like an annoying bug they wanted to crush under their feet. She swallowed in fear and froze under that glare.

"Primary and secondary targets acquired." The closest Xar stated in that same gurgling voice from Zoe's nightmares. As it spoke the tentacles attached to its faceplate wriggled and its head cocked from one side to the other examining her.

Ggothua gaped for a moment, totally taken by surprise at the Xar's sudden appearance. He collected his wits and examined them. He easily picked out the main part of the three Xar team, the one standing closest was marginally taller, just as he had been. But these Xar soldiers were of a design he did not recognise. The basic shape was the same, but the leader was slimmer, armour appeared lighter, sleeker looking as if built for speed and not power. That however was not the most surprising thing to Ggothua; it was the multitude of razor sharp, highly polished curved blades sprouting for every conceivable surface of the armour.

The blades were arranged in precise patterns on the shoulders with the tips pointing downwards and the bladed edges pointing out. They covered the Xar's arms and even its chest. They appeared designed to shred anything silly enough to fight it in close quarters. The normally jet black armour plating appeared to have a thin honeycomb shaped arrangement just underneath the surface which shimmered silver when the remaining sunlight caught it.

"The Hands of God have been summoned." the second Xar spoke as Ggothua slowly and unsteadily rose to his feet. At those words he felt a stab of betrayal. He had been replaced by these others? Why had he not been recreated by the hive?

The second was built in the same sleeker shape that the leader was, but unlike the leader lacked as many of the blades on its armour.

"By those who pull the strings behind the scenes." the third stated. Its voice was deeper and more rumbling than the other two Xar. It shifting slightly to gain a better view, stepping sideways with a thud as the weight of it was made apparent.

Ggothua faced that one and took in its design in surprise. If the other two were built for speed this one was the exact opposite. It was short for a Xar solider, a few inches short of seven foot, appearing very bulky and almost squat. Its armour possessed the same new silver sheen the others did but none of the blades. Ggothua guessed by looking at it the armour was a lot thicker than that of the others. Attached to its back resting and facing skywards was a large energy cannon, the same type that was mounted on the fliers. This one was a walking tank.

"And they demand your..." the leader started.

"Extinction." the three stated together before they quickly moved into an attacking formation. The leader and the other sleeker one stepped to the sides allowing the tank a clear view. The tank's cannon lifted backwards, rose smoothly up before rotating down to rest across its shoulder. It reached up with its right arm and held the weapon for more support as the cannon began charging, electricity arcing from the grooves.

Ggothua felt a burst of panic rise through him. He doubted even the vampire's body could survive being hit with a direct blow from that cannon. He would be vaporised by the extreme heat. He had to do something fast. The body was too alien for him to leap out of the way and even if he did the other two parts were positioning themselves to intercept him.

"Seras...do something." Zoe said hoping Seras would save her. That command seemed to free Ggothua from his thoughts and he did the first thing that came to mind.

"Wait!" Ggothua stated loudly and in the Xar's own language. He was surprised that the vampire's throat was capable of producing the correct sounds. Zoe was even more surprised that Seras had suddenly said something, something that sounded just like the Xar.

If they were surprised the Xar soldiers were even more so. The cannon stopped crackling and the energy faded away slowly as the three exchanged glances and words.

"It is as feared." the leader stated looking at the other Xar before turning back to stare thoughtfully at the vampire.

"Vampire creature had gained access to forbidden data."

"Unacceptable." the tank rumbled his voice sounded surprisingly angry.

"Incorrect." Ggothua stated drawing further curious stares. "Vampire creature, designation Seras Victoria did not have time to access data. She did not expect contact with the hive."

"Explain your knowledge of our language." The leader demanded.

"The vampire did not attack the hive knowingly. It attempted and succeeded in absorbing us into itself." Ggothua spoke carefully making it as clear as he could that he was not the vampire. "We are Xar Ggothua, the Hands of God and we have finally subdued and taken this body from the vampire."

This caused an immediate reaction from the three Xar as they exchanged glances and shuffled in a strangely concerned manner. They began rapidly conversing between themselves.

"Is this true?"

"Unknown."

"If correct...then the vampire creature is more dangerous than we first thought."

"Could that really be our predecessors, the fallen ones?"

Ggothua stood completely still and waited for them to reach a decision unable to hear the communications going on. Behind him Zoe carefully hid and clutched what she thought was Seras' arm which Ggothua ignored.

Zoe suddenly found herself wishing she had stayed inside. She could deal with zombies; they were not a problem, just a dead body that still moved. These guys however...they were as large as she remembered and just as scary. She remembered the face that was hidden under those masks and all the teeth. And the eyes. Especially those hating eyes.

The leader stepped forward walking right up to Ggothua carefully examining the vampire for trickery. Ggothua had to crane his neck to see the leader's face as he stood breathing down on him. For the first time ever Ggothua felt intimidated by a Xar's presence, he felt so small and fragile compared to what he had once been. It was taking all of his willpower to remain calm. The sera was gripping his arm almost painfully now and he hissed at her.

"Remain calm!"

The leader looked down and spoke again, addressing Ggothua in their language. "You claim the name of the fallen ones. Prove it."

"Fallen ones?" Ggothua asked unsure exactly what was being implied by the label.

"Xar Ggothua was removed for a failure beyond tolerance. Indeed. Even all backups have been erased. The risk of infection was deemed...unacceptable."

Ggothua reeled at hearing that and his legs buckled under him. He collapsed slowly to the ground legs folding beneath him, leaving him sitting awkwardly on them eyes wide in shock.

"Seras!" Zoe shouted shaking the vampire and wondering what was going on. What was she doing? They had to run. The monsters were within touching distance and she was terrified.

"Xar Ggothua has been forever removed from the hive." the leader stated smugly seeing the reaction. "The very name banished from our archives. Xar Ggothua does not and will never exist."

"Why?" Ggothua finally managed to choke out. "I am loyal still. I have continued my mission. I have captured the sera!"

"I?" the second questioned in amusement.

"That is why." the tank rumbled.

"It is obvious to us. Even if you were who you claim, the vampire has infected you." the leader claimed smugly enjoying the look of utter loss on the vampire's face.

"The Hands of God would never use that term."

"You are infected."

"Diseased."

"Obsolete."

"An impediment." the leader spoke last. "Impediments are unacceptable." With a noise like sharpening knives three wickedly serrated blades slid out from his forearms. "If you are still loyal you will accept your fate."

The leader lightly touched the tip of one blade to Ggothua's cheek and the former Xar flinched away in pain as the touch of the metal burnt like acid. The faint smell of burnt flesh wafted in the air as Ggothua raised a hand to the stinging and burning wound wondering what had happened.

"Excellent." the leader stated pleased with the quick test.

"Indeed."

"Element Ag performs as expected." the tank commented.

"Element Ag?" Ggothua blinked in wonder. _Silver?_He thought in surprise.

"Element Ag has been found to cause a corrosive reaction to vampiric flesh." The leader explained flexing his claws just in front of Ggothua's face.

"All our blades are coated with a microscopic layer of element Ag. Our weapons have been redesigned to deal with your kind." The tank continued.

"Our armour altered to enable greater movement and flexibility." The second finished. "Allowing us to keep up with the vampire creature's speed."

"Accept your fate." The leader stated pulling his arm back to strike. Zoe shrieked Seras' name as the blades began to descend.

The squeal of tires skidding on a road shot through the air causing the Xar soldiers to pause. There was a roar of a loud powerful engine and they turned as one to see an old battered pickup hurtling down the road right towards them.

"What?" the leader asked in surprise.

"It is the variants." The tank claimed zooming in to see Dirge driving the pickup and Nephthys crouching on the roof, scythe at the ready.

"Deal with them." The second spoke as the tank turned to aim the cannon at the speeding vehicle. Energy began building up along the cannon's grooved surface, collecting in the barrel and forming into a glowing ball.

"Dirge now!" Nephthys shouted over the noise of rushing air and the engine.

"On it!" Dirge shouted back and with a quick prayer that they worked flipped the switch. The four powerful spotlights mounting on the roof blazed into life even as he floored the accelerator sending the old petroleum engine roaring.

The sudden light was unaccounted for and the Xar soldiers, Zoe and Ggothua all had to cover their eyes as the pickup slammed through the old rusty fence. The cannon fired. The ball of condensed energy went wide missing the pickup and harmlessly demolishing part of the graveyard in an explosion of blue light and shockwaves.

"Jump!" Dirge shouted popping the door at the last minute and diving out. He hit the ground with a thud and rolled away. Nephthys timed her leap to the last millisecond, leaping just as the pickup hurtled into the heaviest Xar. She flew through the air pointing her high heeled shoes towards the leader Xar's face. They impacted just as the leader twisted his head to avoid losing an eye. The force of the blow sent the leader stumbling away his head slammed backward. Nephthys used the impact to stop her forward motion, curled into a ball, spun a few times as she plummeted earthwards and unfolded at the right moment to land with cat-like grace on her feet. She made it look easy.

The second Xar soldier had managed to dive out of the way of the speeding pickup. The tank was not so lucky. With a massive crunch and the sound of shattering glass and metal the tank was sent flying backward clutching the front of the pickup and ended up smashing into the church behind them. Bricks crunched under the impact but the walls stayed up. A pair of heavily armoured Xar legs stuck out from either side of the now crushed pickup as a wheel bounced lazily away.

The second Xar rolled onto its back, shock registering from both the other units.

"Here, have a present." Dirge stated dropping something that hissed onto his chest and sprinted away. The Xar glanced down and immediately recognised a stick of dynamite, the fuse nearly burnt out. Springing to his feet the Xar tried to leap away. He was a fraction too slow and although he got to his feet the stick exploded as it hit the ground.

Dirge glanced over his shoulder hearing the boom and grinned back as the shape of a Xar crashed to the ground and lay still.

"I love the middle of nowhere." Dirge commented. "You can guarantee someone has dynamite stashed away in their pickup!"

He ran over to Ggothua and Zoe.

"Dirge!" Zoe exclaimed never so glad to see him as she was now.

"Talk later. Run now!" Dirge roared. Ggothua did not budge; he was still sitting on his legs staring desolately at the ground. Dirge waved a hand in front of Ggothua's face and got no reaction. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." Zoe said before her eyes went wide. The leader had appeared just behind Dirge blades descending towards his neck. "Dirge!"

Dirge turned his head and saw the blades. He did not even get time to curse as the Xar's blades were halted in their descent, sparks flying as they impacted with the blade of Nephthys' scythe. The Egyptian zombie and the Xar leader struggled against the other.

"I suggest running." Nephthys stated as the Xar's greater strength caused her to slide slowly backwards, her heels leaving a trench in the dirt. There was a groaning sound of tortured metal as the pickup shuddered before being lifted easily into the air as the tank removed the now wrecked vehicle and tossed it to the side, eyes glowing furiously. From his position, Dirge could see the one he thought blown up climbing to its feet unsteadily and shaking its head.

"Good plan." Dirge commented taking Ggothua by the arm around the bicep. "Move your carcass!"

When who he thought was Seras still did not respond Dirge picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Screw it. Zoe with me!" Dirge took off at full pelt and Zoe ran after him.

"You waste your time variant." The leader exclaimed towards Nephthys. "You cannot defeat us."

"I do not need to." Nephthys smirked. "I just need to buy them time to escape."

"Foolish aberration." The leader stated swiping his other arm at her. She spun her scythe down and away, freeing it from the Xar's blades which unbalanced the leader and his strike missed her. She did a pirouette and swiped at the Xar's neck. He was quick enough to avoid the blade, but not quick enough that he lost part of one of the razor blades on his shoulder.

He stepped back and re-evaluated the variant. Its weapon was sharp enough to cut through his armour.

"I must warn you gentlemen." Nephthys grinned taking the scythe in both hands. "This blade is sharpened to microsurgical precision."

------------

Dirge and Zoe came to a halt beside the SUV. In between the time of waking Seras and spotting the Xar, Dirge and Nephthys had re-strapped Seras' coffin to the roof rack. "Get in the car!" Dirge commanded and for once Zoe did just that. No complaints. No arguments. It was telling how shaken she was. Dirge slammed the door shut with a thunk and rushed to the passenger side. He opened it and dumped the unresponsive Ggothua into the seat.

"Seras buckle up." Dirge told her. Ggothua did not reply, he stared ahead still in denial over what had occurred. The hive had abandoned him and worse still, he was removed completely. Erased as if he had never existed and never would again. Alone. Forever.

"Heeeellloooo. Anyone in there?" Dirge asked waving his hand in front of her face worried about Seras' lack of movement. Did opening the coffin early screw her up? "Aww perfect." Dirge leaned in grabbed the seatbelt and proceeded to buckle Ggothua in. "Zoe what's wrong with her?"

"I...I don't know!" Zoe exclaimed looking out the back and clutching Wolfgang to her chest in fear that three large black things were right behind them. Cerberus was in the back again and turned to stare in the direction Zoe was. "She was acting weird and then they appeared. She spoke with them I think."

"You think?" Dirge repeated questioningly and pausing in his fastening.

"She was speaking like they did." Zoe turned back to face him. _She's freaked_Dirge thought judging by the expression on her face. "Then she just collapsed."

Dirge clicked the buckle in and stepped back, she seemed to be strapped in now. He shut the door and dived around the other side. Jumping into the SUV he gripped the wheel and it started up once again.

"We'll figure it out later." Dirge stated and slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The SUV smoothly accelerated away with a hum from the electric engine. "Hold on."

"What about Nephthys?" Zoe exclaimed grabbing the back of Dirge's seat.

"She a big girl. She can take care of herself." Dirge remarked while concentrating on the road ahead.

"No! We have to go back for her!" Zoe demanded. Dirge turned his eyeballs to her in the rear-view mirror. "It too dangerous unless you're packing a small nuclear warhead." Dirge commented and paused in apprehension as Zoe began grinning evilly.

"Oh god."

------------

Nephthys back flipped out the way of a strike from the leader only to find herself in the path of the second Xar soldier's needle-like projectiles it enjoyed firing. She was already pinned by a few of the silver coloured needles. Another three joined their brethren in her abdomen even as she deflected another swipe from the leader with her scythe.

This was bothersome she thought. She had to keep the other two within hand-to-hand range to prevent the tank from being able to use his cannon. Unfortunately the slimmer pair were built for hand-to-hand, the leader liked to be in close and the second one would aid him with those needles.

The needles did not cause her much trouble. They must be designed for Seras and had little effect on Nephthys, but eventually they would get lucky. If she lost her sight it was over.

The leader suddenly backed off causing Nephthys to realise something was going to happen. The second tossed a spherical object above her head. She followed it with her eyes. The smooth ball suddenly exploded into a thousand needles. Nephthys reacted by covering her face with her arms as the needles rained down on her. Her arms, legs and the ground around her became covered in the very thin metal needles.

Nephthys cursed under her breathe in her native language as she moved her arms out of the way once the sound of needles pelting the area ceased. She saw that the tank Xar was almost ready to fire on her. The other two had retreated behind the tank and watched dispassionately as the cannon fired.

Nephthys leapt backwards with as much force as she could apply. She avoided the main brunt of the blast but the expanding shockwaves caught her in mid-jump and flung her away. She landed violently on her right side and there was a loud crack before she rolled to a halt.

Nephthys tried to push herself up and found herself unable to do that with her right arm. Switching to her left she raised herself and stared at the damage. Her right arm was shattered and hung limply by her side. She could move her right hand and fingers but that was all. She was glad she could not feel that with the way her arm flopped around with her attempts to move it.

The three Xar approached with thudding footsteps and the noise of their breathing.

She retrieved her scythe and used it to pull herself back to her feet. She gave the Xar a glare before spinning the scythe single-handedly in a come on and try it gesture. Even if she was going down she would make them work for it. At least she had bought Zoe and the others enough time to get out...wait was that a car?

Nephthys turned to stare in annoyed disbelief as the SUV came racing back toward her and the Xar. The Xar exchanged a glance as the SUV skidded to a halt between them and Nephthys. Dirge popped his head out the window.

"Need a lift?"

"Dirge...you are an idiot." Nephthys stated flatly.

"Not my idea. Get in!" Dirge commanded and turned to Zoe. "Zoe?"

Zoe was half out the window facing the Xar with an angry expression. She held Wolfgang by the pull-ring and with a flick let the teddy drop to the end of its cord.

"State your passphrase." Wolfgang stated his single eye glowing red.

"Wake up Wolfgang." Zoe stated clearly before spinning the teddy above her head and throwing him at the Xar.

"Go!" Zoe shouted and Dirge slammed the accelerator down and violently twisted the wheel sending the SUV in a large circle. They proceeded to race off back the way they came with the tank tracking their movements as the cannon charged for another shot. He had them locked in his targeting scope.

The leader and second looked down at the pink teddy bear curiously wondering what it was.

"Good morning!" Wolfgang exclaimed cheerfully before exploding with enough force to send the three Xar flying in different directions.

"Woohoo! Go Wolfgang!" Zoe cheered pumping her fist as she hung out the window and watched the smoke rising into the air. She pulled herself back into the SUV and sat back down grinning. "Did you see that?"

"Yes sweetie." Nephthys smiled while shaking her head and poking her damaged arm. This was going to take some fixing.

"Since when do they give high powered explosives to kids?" Dirge asked not believing what he had just witnessed. If he had known he would never have tossed the damned thing around when it annoyed him.

"Since there are zombies and you're going to die anyhow if there's no way out." Zoe grinned.

"The Gods favour us tonight." Nephthys stated as she began removing needles.

"What are those?" Zoe asked taking one from Nephthys.

"They appear to be silver needle-like darts." Nephthys replied still pulling more of them from her cold unfeeling flesh.

"Silver?" Dirge asked realising something. "Uh ho didn't Seras say she's allergic to that?"

"Allergic?" Nephthys frowned piecing the parts together. "I see. They were prepared for her this time."

Dirge took a moment to eye Seras as she was just sat in the seat staring into nothingness. "Something's wrong with her. She's just staring."

"Seras?" Zoe leaned over the seat. "Say something."

"I...am...abandoned. I do not exist." Ggothua replied in compulsion.

"Oooookay." Dirge breathed. "Does anyone know how to reset a crashed vampire?"

"I am afraid not." Nephthys stated placing the needles she had removed into her lap. She reached over and lowered the window, picked the recovered needles up once more and tossed them outside.

"Well we better figure out how. We need her."

------------

"They have escaped." The tank complained while running a diagnostic on his armour. He had suffered only minor surface damage, a few scratches.

"Negative." The leader growled in minor frustration. "The scout is with them."

"We will catch them eventually." The second nodded.

"The Hands of God have a long reach." The leader stated. "Come."

------------

"Come on Seras snap out of it." Dirge shook her shoulder lightly. Ggothua ignored the variant's attempts at getting him to talk. He wanted nothing more than to be finally destroyed. He had nothing left. "If you don't those Xar will catch us."

"That is my fate..." Ggothua sighed hanging Seras' head. "I accept it and welcome oblivion."

"What the hell?" Dirge stared confused. "What's happened to your never say die attitude?"

Ggothua remained silent unable to even work up enough energy to be angry at the variant that caused most of this.

"Well I give up." Dirge growled through clenched teeth. "It's like she's a different person."

Zoe frowned trying to think of something to help. An idea suddenly popped into her head and she grinned.

"Seras as your master I command you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and protect me with your life!" Zoe commanded.

Ggothua felt the feeling of the compulsion hit him and hit him hard. The sera had just commanded him to protect it? No! He did not want to protect the sera! He was loyal to the hive. But then again...the hive had abandoned him...erased even his existence in fear. A bolt of pure cold rage went through him. Revenge. He would have it and this may be just the best thing for it. The Xar feared the sera, it would prevent renewal. Yes! He would save the sera and propagate it! He would be immune to the effects anyway now.

"Orders received." He was a soldier and like all good ones he obeyed orders when given them.

"So are you back to normal?" Dirge asked.

"Negative." Ggothua replied. "I will never be normal."

"I see your sense of humour's intact." Dirge shook his head amusedly.

"I do not understand variant." Ggothua said frowning and turning his head slowly to face Dirge.

Dirge glanced over at Seras curiously. "What is with this var..."

"Dirge!" Zoe screamed as a bright light appeared in front of them.

"That's not good..." Dirge stated the obvious just before hitting something big.

------------

Hammer shifted gears as the Ark moved down the narrow road. Narrow at least for the Ark. Being pitch black out here was not fun to navigate in and the only spotlight they had on the front was not quite enough to fully illuminate the road ahead.

"They're close." Priest stated with an almost insane grin on his face. "She's almost on top of us. Slow down."

"You sure Priest?" Hammer asked slightly weirded out by the guy's unusual expression. He had never looked like this before. It was as if he was eager to go forth and slaughter something. The moment's distraction was just enough for him to miss the vehicle that was heading right at them. The Ark did not though.

The vehicle smashed into the wedge-plough on the front of the Ark, deflected off and sent hurtling into the hedgerow to the roadside where it came to a halt against a tree wheels spinning and glass flying.

Hammer yanked the massive lever that controlled the brakes. The Ark shuddered and squealed to a halt, leaving thick black tire marks down the road and the smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air.

"What the hell was that?" Hammer finally asked.

"Back up." Priest commanded. "It was her."

------------

Dirge pulled his head back from the steering wheel. Damned cheap cars he mentally grumbled seeing as the airbag had not gone off. His vision was blurred in one eye and it seemed to be looking the wrong way. Yup, his right eye was moving around by itself. He reached up carefully and poked his forehead, the bones shifted under his finger and he carefully pull his hand away.

"Aww perfect." Dirge moaned before he carefully leaned his head back. "My skull's cracked. Anyone else hurt? Zoe?"

"I am unharmed I believe." Nephthys' voice stated from behind him.

Dirge turned in his seat to look in the back. Nephthys noted the dent in his forehead, which was not good. If the bones shifted too much he risked them crushing or piercing his brain and that would mean bye-bye Dirge. With her arm damaged and now Dirge in serious danger of brain death they would both be practically useless. She hoped the vampire was recovered enough.

"Dirge, not to worry you but...you should not make any sudden movements with your skull in that condition." Nephthys pointed out.

"I noticed." He deadpanned and checked over at Zoe. The girl had her head against the back of Seras' seat and was unmoving. "Zoe?" Dirge felt a deep sense of dread as he reach out and lightly shook her by the shoulder.

"Gaaaah braaaains." Zoe suddenly moaned before pulling herself back into the seat properly. She noticed Dirge glaring at her, well one eye was glaring the other was looking for China. "What?"

"You see that?" Dirge growled furious. "Now. That. Was. Not. Funny!"

"What did we hit?" Zoe asked quickly changing the subject.

"That." Ggothua stated as a massive metal vehicle slowly reversed up and a spotlight snapped on to shine in at them.

"Now this could be either good or bad." Dirge commented squinting.

------------

"What's going on?" Zora asked jumping to her feet as Priest walked down the aisle. He paused and stared at her making Zora feel uncomfortable. In the background many of his followers began hovering wondering that same question.

"We've found her, the vampire." Priest finally spoke. He then turned to address his followers. "Everyone into positions, I'm going out to confront them. Nobody is to fire until I give the order. Remember, there could be a child out there understood?"

There was a chorus of agreements and Priest turned back to Zora. "Stay here Doctor. I will rescue your child...if nothing has already happened to her."

"What do you mean?" Zora grabbed hold of his shirt a bolt of fear running down her spine. He just stared at her unconcerned. "Priest?"

"Doctor, Seras Victoria is an infection. But worse this infection is highly infectious with the right conditions." Priest's word caused Zora to let go of his shirt and fell back into her seat. "It is corrupting in nature and I'm sorry to say a child fulfils all the requirements for the infection to spread."

"You're saying she can transmit her alterations?" Zora whispered.

"Correct. I'm afraid to say your child may already be beyond salvation. But do not worry, if she hasn't I will save her."

"What if she is?" Zora asked.

"Then all we can do is put her down and pray God has mercy on her soul."

Zora stared for a moment before she flung herself at Priest. "You can't do that!"

Priest easily knocked Zora's flailing arms out the way and grappled her. He turned her around and held her securely before speaking in her ear. "Doctor please understand. You would not leave an animal to suffer a long tortured existence. You destroy the zombies as an act of kindness, this is no different."

Zora relaxed in his hold and he let her go. "Good. Now please stay here where it is safe."

"No."

"Doctor..." Priest sighed in annoyance. Would he have to knock her out to keep her from getting in the way?

"I'm going out there with you." Zora spun on him. "I have to see her."

Priest sighed before seeing the determination in her eyes. "So be it." He relented.

------------

"Any bright ideas?" Dirge asked turning to the others.

"Make no sudden movements." Nephthys said.

"Really." Dirge sighed. "I would never have thought of that one."

"I know." Nephthys replied staring out at the massive vehicle behind them, the bright lights were making it hard to see. There seemed to be movement out there. "Not to worry you but I think they are coming out."

"How about a white flag?" Dirge commented not seriously. "Anyone got anything white I can wave?"

Dirge copied Nephthys and squinted through the bright lights. He could just make out some movements.

"Here." Ggothua spoke and handed something to Dirge which the zombie automatically took.

"What is..." Dirge's words trailed off as he saw what he was holding. It was Seras' bra. He turned unbelievingly toward Ggothua who looked on curiously head slightly cocked and the top few buttons on Seras' shirt still undone.

"W...wha...wh...what is?" Dirge developed a stutter. "What are you doing?"

"You required something white. I complied." Ggothua explained.

Dirge stared. He stared some more. He continued to stare.

"Is that unsuitable?" Ggothua asked curiously.

------------

"So this is it eh." Alistair stated as he walked over to stand next to Hammer. They both were looking out the windows at the front of the Ark watching the crashed vehicle carefully. There was movement inside. Hammer shifted, adjusting how he held his gun at the ready.

"Certainly looks it bud." Hammer rubbed a hand over his shaven head.

"What do you think'll happen?"

"Priest is gonna kick undead booty that's what." Hammer grinned. "Wanna bet how long it lasts?"

"Hey look! She's coming out!" Alistair pointed excitedly as the driver side door was forced open. What poked out the door was not what they expected. A shovel was poked out with something hanging from it. A zombie head cautiously followed. The zombie then began waving the shovel up and down slowly.

"Is that...a shovel and a bra it's waving?" Alistair stared.

"Yup." Hammer replied. There was complete silence along the Ark as people stared at the bizarre sight.

"That's a zombie right?"

"Yup."

"Waving a bra?"

"Yup."

"Why?" Alistair blurted out in exasperation.

"Maybe it's a feminist zombie." Hammer offered sarcastically.

"Dude! That's a dude!"

Hammer rolled his eyes as his comment whooshed way over Alistair's head.

------------

"I've never been so embarrassed in all my life." Dirge moaned still waving the improvised white flag.

"Afterlife." Nephthys corrected smirking and enjoying Dirge's discomfort. She received a glare as a reply.

"Will this even work?" Dirge snapped.

"Well..." Nephthys stared out the cracked rear window. "They have not fired upon us. Yet."

"Hey! Someone's on the roof!" Zoe pointed out.

"I guess this is where we find out if it has worked or not." Dirge commented.

The figure on the top of the vehicle leant down and helped someone else up. Zoe could see them both easily. It was a white haired man and her mother. Zoe stared surprised for a moment before blurting out what she saw.

"Tha...that's my mom up there!"

"Your mom?" Dirge blinked and squinted as the silhouettes moved along the vehicle and began climbing down.

"They must be a rescue team from the Acropolis for Zoe." Nephthys said.

"Finally!" Dirge said enthusiastically. "C'mon everyone out."

Dirge climbed out the wrecked SUV and began untying Seras' bra from his shovel. Nephthys got her door open after a few attempts and climbed out. Zoe followed her out the same side and stood by the undead woman. She watched her mother and the stranger approach. Ggothua paused in the seat as Dirge dropped the bra back in the vehicle.

"You coming?" he asked.

"Affirmative." Ggothua replied staring curiously at the white bra on the seat. He could sense it as it was a part of the vampire's body. It was not unusual to him to receive sensations from another but it was usually everything, not just a sense of being there. Ggothua decided to analyse this later and tried to open the door. It was stuck so he gave it a hard kick. The door exploded open, tore off its hinges and disappeared into the night. As he climbed out and looked around stiffly there was a distant sound of metal hitting concrete.

-------------

Zora stepped off the ladder and onto the road. She turned to see a large zombie climb out the driver side of the car that had collided with the Ark. She instantly knew this was no normal zombie. For one thing it moved smoothly and with a purpose. Secondly it began untying something white from the shovel it was carrying.

Then the rear driver side door opened and another zombie climbed out. A tall female zombie, covered in black electrical tape and her right arm hanging limply by her side. She turned back to the car and retrieved a large scythe.

Zora stared. She did not want to believe what her eyes were showing her. She did not know them but she recognised them. Zoe had been very consistent in her description of her imaginary intelligent zombies.

"Oh...my...god..." Zora gasped. "They're real..."

As she stared Zora felt a huge amount of guilt swell up inside. Zoe's stories were true...and she had not believed her. She had even agreed to have Zoe placed in lockdown as a safety precaution all those years ago. All those escape attempts all because no one believed her...

Priest looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She seemed to recognise these undead.

"You know them?" He asked carefully. He braced himself, getting a weapon ready. Outwardly he appeared relaxed. If the good Doctor was in league with them...

"No." Zora said swallowing. "I know of them. But they can't be real."

"Who are they?" Priest asked curiously watching them. They did not seem to be making any threatening moves. Yet.

"It was almost six years ago, Zoe was only six at the time. We thought we lost her out at sea...it was an accident. We couldn't find her and thought her dead...I thought she was gone forever and then later that night she was found outside the gates, mostly unharmed. She had travelled over nine miles in a few hours, a six year old. She...she claimed intelligent zombies and a vampire brought her home, saved her from the monsters...no one believed her. Not even me." Zora sniffed. "Oh Zoe I'm sorry!"

Priest placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry. I'm sure she'll forgive you."

It was then they saw Zoe crawl out the wreck and placed herself close to the zombie woman. She looked right at them and stared stony-faced.

"Zoe!" Zora cried out and went to run forward but Priest's hand on her shoulder prevented her.

"Calm yourself. It could be a trap."

"But!"

There was a crunch and the sound of twisting metal. Both Zora and Priest turned to stare as Ggothua climbed out the car and slowly looked around.

"Seras!" Zora growled her mood changing instantly.

"It's her." Priest grinned in eagerness. This was it! He had her now. He felt nervous and excited at the same time. Priest let go of Zora and turned to face the vampire. "Doctor, listen to me. Those zombies, I doubt they are created by Nekrosis. Most likely they are puppets being controlled by her...remember she craves blood. I suspect all that occurred six years ago was orchestrated by her to gain access to the people you live with."

"She can do that?" Zora asked surprised although it made sense to her.

"It is one of her most basic abilities. Stay close to me and make no moves unless I say. If this is a trap you will have to be close to me so that I can shield you." Priest told her as he began walking towards the group of undead and one girl. Zora checked her pocket making sure she still had the gun Soren had given her. It was still there. She took a deep breath and followed Priest.

"Looks like they're coming to see us." Dirge commented while letting Cerberus out. The large zombie dog dropped to the ground and shook himself out before staring and sniffing at the humans approaching. He rumbled. "Easy boy." Dirge said patting his head.

"Shall we?" Nephthys wondered.

"Sure." Dirge replied walking slowly towards the pair of humans.

"Come along sweetie." Nephthys indicated for Zoe to follow Dirge.

"Do I have to?"

"I'm afraid so. The Xar won't give up easily."

"Affirmative." Ggothua agreed stepping in beside them. "They will never give up until they complete their mission or are destroyed. They do not fear death for they can rise again as many times as required."

Zoe swallowed at hearing that.

Nephthys eyed Seras' body suspiciously. She had a suspicion since they had rescued Seras that she was not herself. "And how do you know that Seras?" Nephthys asked emphasising her name.

"It is what I would do." Ggothua replied. Nephthys nodded and made sure she placed herself closer to Zoe. The zombie tightened her grip on the scythe and got ready.

The two groups stopped facing each other a few meters apart and stared.

"Zoe..." Zora spoke first.

"Oh, hi mom." She said with no emotion before her voice turned icy. "Say hello to my imaginary friends!" she made a gesture with her first two fingers on both hands. "Dirge say hi to my mom."

Dirge eyed Zoe for a moment before he addressed the two humans. "Are you here to rescue her?" he asked in his rumbling voice.

"That is a part of my mission." Priest smiled calmly appearing completely at ease. These undead, now that he had gotten this close he could tell they were not Seras' ghouls. They were dead and reanimated but they had no vampiric taint on them.

"Good!" Dirge stated and pushed Zoe forward.

"Hey!" the girl complained.

"Take her and get outta here." Dirge pointed back down the road. "There are these big nasty monsters coming and they want her dead. You have to get her to safety."

"Zoe come back. Please!" Zora pleaded. "I'm sorry about everything!"

Zoe stared at her mother eye half-lidded. "Really."

"Zoe just come home to me." Zora stepped forward. "Come back and we can sort things out. It's too dangerous out here."

"Listen to your mother Zoe." Dirge told her.

"So...that's how it is. Even you don't want me." Zoe sighed.

"Zoe." Dirge grumbled. "Listen kid, it's not like that."

"Then what's it like huh?" Zoe shouted at him stamping one foot in anger.

"Look at us!" Dirge shouted back indicating himself and Nephthys. "My skull is currently shattered. If just one piece decides to slide sideways or something I'm dead. Nephthys has lost the use of an arm! And those...things! Were barely slowed down by us when we were at our best! You. Are. Not. Safe." Dirge suddenly deflated and placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Please Zoe. Go home with your mom. At least I'll know you're safe."

"Seras will..."

"Seras will what?" Dirge stared at her concern written on the remains of his features. "Collapse again at the sight of them?"

Zoe looked away feeling like the world was ending. Her eyes were starting to sting. "Will you come see me?"

"I doubt they'll let me in being a zombie and all." Dirge remarked glancing over at Zora and seeing her looking on in concern. She was shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm and barely keeping herself from racing over. "Tell you what. I'll go to the end of the bridge now and again and if they let you out we can talk and all. How's that?"

"Promise."

"Sure. Now go." Dirge pointed at Zora and Zoe turned to see her mother holding her arms out for her. Zoe walked away slowly sniffing the whole time. Once she got in range Zora grabbed her in the biggest hug she could.

"Zoe! I'm so glad you're safe. I'm sorry about not believing you!" Zora never felt as much relief as she did then. Even more than the last time Zoe had been returned.

Priest watched all this in silence. He detected nothing evil about the zombies; in fact aside from being dead they could have passed as normal people to his senses. Two people whose souls had been trapped in their bodies by Nekrosis. He would have to help them find rest once he dealt with Seras Victoria.

"Let's get out of here." Dirge said turning along with Nephthys. "You coming Seras?"

"I'm afraid she won't be going with you." Priest stated his face smiling but his voice cold. "I've been hunting her for a very long time. She and I are going to have a little chat about Alucard. And more specifically where he is."

"Excuse me?" Dirge asked turning back.

"Please stay out of this...Dirge was it?" Priest took a slow step towards Seras. Ggothua turned to look at the approaching human in curiosity. "I have no quarrel with you."

"Quarrel?" Dirge asked narrowing his eyes as the human took another step.

"She is responsible for the death of someone who was like a father to me." Priest's gentle smile never left his face but his voice could of cut glass. "She did not deliver the killing blow but she caused it to land." As he walked a large bayonet dropped out his sleeve and he caught it in his hand.

"Are you intending to attack me human?" Ggothua asked unconcerned as the human raised his weapon in front of his face. What could a human do to him when he had this body?

"Hey buddy!" Dirge stated bracing himself and attempting to head off this confrontation before it started. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. There are these monsters coming and they don't care who gets in their way."

Before anyone could react Zoe broke free of Zora and charged Priest screaming. "Don't you dare hurt Seras!"

Priest backhanded Zoe in the face easily and caught her with the same hand as she stumbled. He twisted her around and held his blade pointing at her face as he stared at her. Dirge froze not daring to move in case he set the human off. Nephthys was stood still also, calculating her chances of getting in range and deflecting the blade with her own. They were not good. Cerberus started growling.

"I see." Priest sighed. "I feared the worst. You have shared blood."

"What?" Dirge asked glancing at Nephthys.

"No." Zora whispered in fear for Zoe. She was infected!

"She has made you her creature. Her taint is all over you." Priest stated pulling the blade back.

"No Priest! Don't! You can't be certain!" Zora shouted.

"I'm very sorry Doctor." Priest looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "It's too late for her."

Zora shook in fear for Zoe but before anyone else could do anything she pulled the gun out and aimed at Priest. "Let Zoe go Priest! I'll figure something out to fix it! I work with genetics!"

"This is bad..." Dirge commented quietly towards Nephthys who nodded in agreement. Ggothua stared while wondering why humans were so...unpredictable.

"I'm afraid Doctor this infection is not of the kind your science can cure."

"I...I'll shoot!"

"Then shoot me. I'll forgive you." Priest turned his face towards Zora and continued to smile serenely while holding Zoe in a grip she could not break free from and she was trying. Punching and clawing his arm had no effect.

Zora stood holding the gun the way she had been shown and aimed at Priest. "Last time...let her go."

"No."

To the surprise of everyone the gun went off. Priest's head snapped back, the bullet catching him square in the forehead. Dirge went to move and was brought up short when Priest chuckled and brought his head back down.

"He's not human." Nephthys stated in actual surprise.

"A good shot Doctor." Priest complemented. "You have no idea how much this actually hurts." He stated as the bullet was slowly pushed back out as the wound healed that fast.

"Holy cow!" Dirge exclaimed jaw hanging.

Zora went to fire the gun again but Priest beat her to the punch. In one fast and smooth motion he let go of Zoe, spun on the spot, reached into his pocket, removed his bible and threw it at her. It caught her in the face and sent her stumbling back. Zora fell to ground in a heap, her gun bounced off it once and skidded away.

"Mom!" Zoe screamed and tried to kick Priest. He blocked it and grabbed Zoe once again. Priest reacquired his blade off the ground before pulling it back to finish off the furious girl.

"May God have mercy on your soul." Priest stated with a sad smile and attacked. Zoe closed her eyes as the blade began descending. She was certain she heard her name being called out as she braced for the pain she was expecting to feel. It never came and she felt his hand release her and gravity took over. Zoe fell to the ground and stared up in surprise to see what had happened.

Ggothua was standing in front of her, the blade sticking out of his back.

"Seras..." Zoe breathed.

"Thank god." Dirge sighed.

"So...you protected her." Priest's smile turned into a grin as he pushed the blade deeper into the vampire. He let go and jumped away while reaching into his sleeves.

Ggothua glared at the human. The compulsion to protect the sera had kicked in forcing him to act. He was not sure exactly how he had moved so fast but would figure it out later. Now to remove the blade it was...actually it was the most painful thing he had encountered. It burned and felt like ice at the same time.

Ggothua had a moment to blink before he screamed as the pain hit him fully. The blade felt like it was tearing right into his very essence and Ggothua fell to his knees. It hurt that much he found himself unable to focus his thoughts.

Priest pulled his hands from his sleeve and threw what he had hidden up there. Four smaller blades hit the ground in a rough square around Ggothua. Each one pinned a sheet of paper to the road.

Ggothua had regained enough of his senses to stop shrieking. He clutched his stomach area and stared at the blade's handle. He made an attempt to grip the handle to pull the blade out. The moment he touched it more pain flared up his arm and he yelled out again letting go of it. Ggothua rocked forward and placed both hands on the ground. The pain was unbearable.

"Seras!" Dirge roared racing forward reaching out to help her. He had to do something, the way she was screaming made him panic and pulled on his heart. The instant his fingers crossed the invisible barrier that Priest had created there was a flash like an electric short and Dirge was flung backwards shouting out in surprise.

"Dirge! Idiot!" Nephthys stated grabbing him as he fell back to try and prevent him jarring anything. "You could kill yourself moving like that!"

"What the hell was that?" Dirge asked shaking his hands. God his fingers felt like they were burnt. He paused...wait a minute! "My hands...they hurt?"

"Don't be stupid. We don't feel physical sensations." Nephthys told him rolling her eyes.

------------

While that was going on Zoe ran over to her mother who had rolled over and was on her knees holding a hand to his cheek where a nasty bruise was forming from the impact of the bible.

"Mom! Are you okay?"

"Zoe..." Zora grabbed Zoe and pulled her close. "We have to run for it!"

"No! I have to save Seras."

"Don't be stupid Zoe! She's a monster! She took you from me!"

"No she didn't! I went with her so she got better! If she had stayed she might have killed someone while she was sick!" Zoe informed her mother sharply.

"But...Zoe she drinks blood!"

"And we eat meat sometimes." Zoe glared. "Seras never killed or even hurt anyone these six years. She could have killed everyone if she wanted to, she's that powerful! But she's also a nice person. You said that yourself! Believe me."

Zora looked at Zoe. She had never given her the trust she needed before and the thought of driving Zoe away again by not believing her words made Zora's mind up for her.

"Okay. I...believe you."

------------

"I'm telling ya my fingers sting." Dirge told Nephthys staring at his hands in wonder and flexing them.

"Of course they do." Priest's voice stated smugly nearby as he stood smirking down at Ggothua. "Most people believe vampires to be soulless monsters. That is not true. They are monsters but they are not soulless. This barrier prevents anything dead that contains a soul from passing through it, perfect for capturing vampires but usually ineffective against Nekrosis zombies. The pain you are feeling is not physical but spiritual."

"Soul?" Dirge stared. "I really do have a soul?"

"Indeed." Priest stated as two blades dropped from his sleeves, one for each hand which caused Dirge to wonder how many he had up there. "I wish to help you two find your peace once this is settled."

"Awfully nice of you buddy." Dirge growled.

"What he means Dirge..." Nephthys stated standing up. "Is he wants to set us free. By destroying our bodies. Correct?"

"Very true. It is the only way you will find the rest you deserve."

"Not so nice." Dirge climbed to his feet and pulled his shovel free.

"What are you doing?" Nephthys asked sending him a glare that said are you stupid. "You cannot fight the way you are."

"I'll take that chance. We need to save Seras."

"Dirge..." Nephthys did not finish that sentence as things suddenly got worse. Much worse.

There was a cracking, wood splintering noise behind them. Dirge and Nephthys turned around in time to see the squat bulky Xar tank push its way past the trees by the road. The two trees unfortunate enough to be in his way fell to the ground with a crash. It paused for a moment, blue eyes glowing in the dark before it stepped forward. Behind it the other two followed.

"What in the world?" Priest asked starting at the robots he guessed by looking at them.

"Aww perfect." Dirge grumbled. "You see them! I tried to warn ya!"

"This is so very not good." Nephthys stated.

"The gods sure don't like us tonight." Dirge mocked and turned back to Priest. "Hey buddy, you should either run now or set Seras free!"

"What are they?" Priest asked the zombie.

"Big and nasty." Dirge backed away with along with Nephthys. They stepped back past Seras and ended up just in front of Zoe and her mother. Cerberus moved over to stand by his master.

"They've found us." Zoe breathed as the two zombies stood protectively before her.

"Zoe what are they?" Zora gulped.

"The Xar." Zoe replied. "They've been chasing me and I don't know why. They hate me and want me to die."

"What?"

"She's right Mrs. Elgin." Dirge remarked. "We need Seras right now. She's the only one with any chance against them."

The three Xar soldiers stomped forward, scanning the area, the human, the vampire and the human's large vehicle. The leader took the front position as they stopped close to Priest.

"Primary and secondary targets reacquired." He stated. He cocked his head curiously at the sight of the vampire creature seemingly in pain and trapped. His scanners detected a very strange energy around the vampire.

"Primary target seems disabled by an energy field."

"Interesting. This human seems capable of containing the vampire creature." The tank rumbled indicating Priest.

"Adding a tertiary target to the list." The leader stated. "Capture this human alive. He may provide information on more effective weaponry."

"Excuse me gentlemen." Priest asked casually. "May I inquire as to who and what you are?"

The Xar soldiers exchanged a glance before the leader spoke once more. "We are the Hands of God."

"I very much doubt that." Priest stated still smiling. "Forgive me but you don't seem very godly to me."

"Not your fake god human." The second stated.

"I see. So you're heathens. Tell me, you're primary target is the vampire correct? What do you want with her?"

"Her termination." The tank stated.

Priest gave them a large smile that appeared completely innocent. "Oh dear. Now there you see we have a problem."

"Elaborate." The leader commanded.

"Well, you see. I need some information only she has." Priest indicated towards Ggothua who was watching the goings on while trying to control the pain.

"Information?" The second asked.

"Yes information on her creator. The vampire that makes her power look like an insignificant speck of dust. The vampire Alucard!"

"Impossible!" the tank stated.

"Your words cannot be true." The leader spoke. "However our predecessors also thought that about this one. We will not take any chances. Adjusting mission parameters. Capture primary and tertiary targets. Eliminate secondary."

"Oh you plan to capture me? That's comforting." Priest joked before speaking into his wrist mounted transmitter shaped like wooden beads. "Guys...open fire!"

"Crap!" Dirge exclaimed glancing back and seeing the guns lining the Ark he shouted out. "Everyone down!" He threw himself on top of Zoe and Zora knocking them both to the ground. Nephthys and Cerberus followed his lead dropping to the ground just as every single weapon on the Ark lit up.

The noise was deafening as thousands of bullets began tearing into the road around the Xar soldiers. Cement and dirt was torn clean up. The Xar soldiers stood calmly as the hail of lead bounced harmlessly off of their armour plating.

Ggothua managed to glance up just in time to be hit by incoming firepower. He barely managed to get out a gasp before he was shredded by the bullets.

"Seras!" Zoe shrieked from underneath Dirge.

"Don't worry about her! She's survived worse than that before!" Dirge bellowed to be heard and held the girl down just in case.

Priest had somehow disappeared as the leader glanced around. A powerful bullet clipped one of his eyes and sent his vision flickering for a moment. This annoyed him.

"Take out the weapons." He commanded to the tank.

"Affirmative." The tank stepped forward ignoring the tremendous firepower. The cannon smoothly moved back into firing position and began charging. The ball of cackling energy grew at the end before launching towards the Ark. It hit the armoured vehicle and punched right through it tearing the Ark right into two pieces. The two halves of the Ark spun in a short arc from the force of impact before scraping to a rest. The energy ball exploded in the distance with a shockwave that rocked the remains.

The tank nodded in satisfaction as the guns went silent. "Target silenced."

Dirge slowly lifted his head up as it was silent once more. The road ahead was literary cover in holes and Seras...he could not see much of her left. In the distance the Xar Soldiers still stood unharmed.

"I really hope she's still alive." Dirge whispered knowing if she was not this next battle was going to be rather short. Then he realised the barrier was still up. Even if she was she would not be able to help them. "Aww perfect."

------------

Ggothua was in pain. That was all there was. He could not see or hear but he could feel. He could feel the pain coming in from all over. He felt like he was spread out all over the place. For a moment he wondered if this was real. Then something else happened. A part of him seemed to leak away and fade. Other bits followed, slowly at first but then with alarming speed.

"I'm dying." He realised. "Fading...why? The vampire survived this once?"

"That's because you aren't a vampire, creature." A powerful male voice stated and then chuckled sadistically. "You wear her body...but it is her soul that contains her power!"

"Who?" Ggothua wondered as the pain was fading. He guessed that meant it was almost over.

"That is not important right now Ggothua..." the voice then whispered. "What is...is that your actions have killed you and Seras Victoria and each soul she has absorbed. Congratulations Ggothua you've destroyed a power vampire. Do you feel proud?"

"I feel only pain."

"Glorious is it not? It means you still live...for now." The voice laughed again before turning conspiratorial in tone. "You still have one little chance to live Ggothua. To have your revenge. Do you wish to know what it is?"

"Explain." Ggothua answered. He did want to survive and see them suffer as he had.

"Excellent." The voice crowed. "You won't like this. To live you must surrender to her. Add your strength to her own and give her back her body."

The voice was right. He did not like that.

------------

The three Xar soldiers approached the remains of the vampire creature. They stared down at the mess that was the remains of Seras. They were not recognisable.

"The humans have destroyed the vampire." The tank stated disappointed he had not gotten the killing blow.

"The human has escaped."

"The sera has not." The leader stated staring at it as the variants began climbing to their feet slowly. His sensors picked up a distortion and he reacted. His blades slid out and his arm shot into the air to spear the descending attacker. Two bayonets dropped to the ground.

"Foolish human." The leader stated as he lowered his arm with Priest skewered through his abdomen. Priest coughed up blood and gripped the Xar's arm as he hung on the blades.

"Seems you got me...good." he stated still smiling before launching his arm towards the leader's head. Another blade popped out of his sleeve and he slammed it into the right eye of the giant that had skewered him. His blade passed through and lodged somewhere in its skull.

The leader roared in pain as Priest twisted the blade. As this occurred the second unit grabbed the human and ripped him off the leader. Priest yelped in pain but continued to smirk as he was held in the air. Blood ran slowly from the corner of his mouth and dripped off his chin.

The leader ripped the blade out and a jet of black liquid squirted from the wound before turning into a dribble. He glared at Priest who shrugged unconcerned. "Well...I tried."

"You indeed tried my patience human. Die!" the leader swiped his blades catching Priest across the middle and ripping him in two. The Xar soldiers watched as he hit the road and lay still internal organs free for the entire world to see.

As that happened some of the guns on the remains of the Ark began firing again at the Xar soldiers. It seemed that some of the people onboard had survived and were upset over Priest's death.

"Annoying insects." The leader growled turning to face the remains as bullets continued to bounce off of his armour.

------------

When the bullets started again Dirge, Nephthys, Zoe, Zora and Cerberus dropped back to the ground.

"This is fun." Dirge commented sarcastically trying to think of some way out of this situation.

There was another blast from the Xar's cannon and the front half of the Ark was destroyed in a hail of molten metal and body parts. Dirge could hear screams now over the noise.

"Guys get ready to..."

The leader's foot slammed into the ground in front of them and he looked down, fury in his undamaged eyes.

"...run." Dirge finished lamely. The group watched helplessly as the other Xar surrounded them.

"Now that all the distractions are dealt with..." The leader began to speak when the sound of Seras chuckling started behind them.

"Seras!" Dirge grinned and looked over at her.

"Impossible." The leader growled spinning and popping his blades.

What they all saw surprised them. The remains of Seras slowly pulled itself back together, forming a torso and an arm. But it did not form completely. The shape was vaguely Seras shaped but appeared to be made up of chunks of meat and bone arranged randomly as if she did not have enough to fix herself.

Her chuckling turned to a wet gurgle before the flesh seemed to melt off of her bones and what was left tumbled to the ground before turning to dust.

The Xar scanned the area quickly. There was no sign of the vampire's energy signature around there now. They turned back to the variants and the sera.

"Vampire creature's energy signature is gone." The leader stated sounding smug. "It is eliminated."

"Seras..." Dirge stared as the dust started to blow away in the light breeze. "She's..."

"Dead." Nephthys finished for him and glanced up. "As are we."

"No." Zoe stated calmly causing the others to look at her. "She's still here. I can feel her."

------------

Inside the wrecked SUV the forgotten article of clothing changed colour, turning black and melted into a puddle upon the seat. A single red eye opened in the centre before it slid across the seat, dropped the floor and crawled across it to the door. It flowed up and over the sill and dropped to the ground where it waited.

The lid of the coffin rattled before it dislodged enough for a stream of black shadowy substance to flow over the lip like water from an overfilled bath tub. It flowed down to the ground and joined the other piece. Hundreds of red eyes opened up and it stared around before burrowing into the ground.

------------

Hammer grunted as he dragged a groaning man away from the wreckage. He was sweating and covered in soot, a nasty gash on the top of his head was leaking blood. The man he was dragging groaned in pain. Half of the poor guy's face and body was burnt and blackened.

"Hang in there bud." He prayed before the guy gave a final gurgle and went silent. Hammer sighed and gently lay the now corpse to the ground. He took his gun and put a single bullet through the dead man's head to prevent zombiefication. "Rest in peace buddy."

He raised his head and looked around at the devastation of the Ark, his pride and joy. Those things had not only destroyed it and killed nearly everyone on board but they even finished off Priest. He could not believe it; everything was taken in a few moments, it was over.

"No use wailing about it." Hammer grimaced turning back to the wreckage. He had to see if anyone else survived. As quick as he could the big man ran back to the twisted piles of scrap that were the remains of the front of the Ark. He stared for a moment at the blackened body parts sticking out from under various bits and pieces.

"Christ almighty." Hammer sighed wondering how he had escaped.

A dented sheet of metal wobbled slightly as something tried to lift it from underneath causing Hammer to realise someone could be alive under there. He rushed over and assisted whoever it was. The sheet was removed and he stared down at Alistair. The blue haired guy only had a single scrape across his chest and that had only cut through his shirt.

"You are the most goddamned lucky sonovabitch I've ever met." Hammer stated giving the younger man a hand up.

"What happened?" Alistair asked getting back on his feet and staring around at the death and destruction that had been wreaked upon them.

"They got us and Priest." Hammer told him. "We didn't stand a chance."

"So...what do we do now?"

Hammer gave him a look that promised trouble was coming. "We give em hell. There's a few RPGs in the rear section, they should have survived."

"Excuse me." A female voice coughed politely from behind them. Hammer and Alistair spun and stared recognising the vampire standing behind them. She waved and smiled innocently.

"The vampire!" Hammer exclaimed and unloaded the remaining bullets he had in her face blowing most of it away. As his finger kept pulling the trigger in vain as the clip was empty Seras' head reformed, she still smiled.

"Now what will you do human?" Seras asked nastily.

"I'll fight you with my fists if I have to." Hammer informed as he waved the gun like a bat before taking a swipe at Seras' head. She caught the weapon easily halting it instantly and simply crushed it in her hand.

"I like you." Seras smiled cutely. "Now that you've gotten that out of your system, you said something about RPGs?"

"Why? You going to kill us?" Hammer growled putting up his fists.

"Nope." She patted his cheek. "I'm giving you a choice. Either run away or aid me in destroying the Xar."

"Xar?"

"Those big nasties that killed your friends." Seras pointed. "I intend to destroy them. You in or out?"

Hammer and Alistair glanced at each other.

"What do you want us to do?"

"Get those RPGs. Once I get their full attention let loose, try to knock them off their feet. They won't be damaged much by them but it's not a problem. Once they're distracted run in and get the girl out of here. She is vital to the survival of humanity in this war."

"War?" Alistair asked.

"Yes, a war declared upon us all and that no one knew we were even fighting." Seras growled.

------------

Zoe stood up causing everyone to stare, the Xar soldiers included.

"Hey Xar!" Zoe shouted drawing their attention. "I'm going to give you one chance to walk away now or I'll have you destroyed completely."

The three Xar soldiers looked at each other before turning back to the girl as she stood there completely calm.

"The sera has apparently lost its mind."

"A particular artefact of the human mind."

"True. When stressed they can go...insane." the leader stated with a noise that might have been a chuckle.

Those same thoughts went through Zora's and the zombie's minds.

"I'm warning you guys. Walk away or die." Zoe smirked up at them and folded her arms.

"It believes it can threaten us." The tank stated as he brought his cannon into firing position and aimed at the group. "A low power blast is all that is required to eliminate these."

"Well I warned you guys." Zoe stated rubbing her pinkie in her ear unconcerned at being the target of the energy cannon.

The ground below them lurched. The Xar soldiers stumbled at the unexpected movement.

"Whoa!" Dirge called out as they were flopped around as if they were lying on a waterbed.

"What's going on?" Zora exclaimed as the lurching ceased. Cracks appeared in the ground forming a circle around Zoe and they glowed with a faint red light. The cracks around the girl suddenly rushed out all over the ground in different directions, some even passed right under the Xar soldier's feet. The light in the area seemed to fade and the only illumination was of the glowing red light emitted from the ground. If anyone looked down at the ground from a height they would have seen a circular symbol covered in ancient texts with an eye in the middle where Zoe stood.

"It's Seras." Zoe claimed calmly watching the scene unfolding and feeling the power of her protector building in strength. "She's releasing all the constraints she places on herself. She's releasing hell."

The Xar soldiers glanced around in concern as the vampire's energy signature reappeared and grew many times more powerful.

The earth shuddered once again and then went still. There was a moment of eerie silence before all around them hands sprouted from the ground sending dirt or concrete flying. Heads appeared and bodies as hundreds of zombie like apparitions clawed their way from the earth. Soon the entire group including the Xar were surrounded.

There was a very deep and loud roar that passed through everything. They all looked in that direction to see what appeared to be a huge undead tiger clawing the earth and snarling, dead eyes were blazing red.

"That's a tiger." Zora stated pointing and swallowing in fear.

"Don't worry mom." Zoe spoke calmly. "They're on our side."

"These...are these all of Seras'?" Dirge looked around taking in all the corpses that surrounded them. He saw what appeared to be Nazi soldiers, random thugs and...was that a bunch of zombie clowns? Dirge shuddered. "Even dead clowns are annoying."

"We are surrounded." The leader stated and began analysing what to do. "Quickly. Eliminate the sera. We deal with the vampire afterwards."

"Affirmative." The tank stated taking aim.

He did not get chance to even being charging the weapon. Something extremely fast and powerful slammed into him sending him stumbling backwards. It then ricocheted off the other two Xar soldiers who also stumbled from the blows. When they recovered they saw what had hit them.

Seras stood in front of Zoe glaring at the Xar soldiers and had her arms crossed. Her clothing was torn and blood stained. Blood coated half her face and dripped down her body. Her left arm was not an arm at all, but a black mass vaguely shaped like an arm. From it sprouted a wing like shape that wrapped protectively around the stunned group of Zora, Zoe and the zombies. Her expression was neutral but her eyes promised a painful death.

"Seras!" Dirge exclaimed happily climbing to her feet.

"I have to admit I am glad to see you." Nephthys said also standing.

Zora followed everyone else's lead and stared in discomfort at the constantly shifting shadow arm/wing that was protecting them. _This was what Seras really is_, Zora thought turning to stare at Seras' back. She saw blood dripping off the vampire but it would vanish before touching the ground and then another drop would fall. She appeared to be bleeding constantly and yet was not showing any discomfort or sign of fatigue in the slightest.

"When the fireworks start, follow the living." Seras spoke not turning. "I cannot guarantee your safety once this begins."

"Okay Seras." Zoe nodded taking a step back.

"Vampire creature appears injured." The leader stated taking in Seras' appearance.

"It controls the dead." The second added glancing around at the corpses that were staring hungrily at them.

"Two can play your game." Seras stated icily. "And I'm not hurt at all. This is my fully released form. This is how I was when I fully gained my power, so this is my true shape."

"You believe that is enough to stop us?" the leader asked popping his blades. "I doubt this transformation prevents our weapons from hurting you."

As he spoke two red dots appeared on his chest, they wobbled erratically. He glanced down and recognised a laser target when he saw it.

"Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven." Seras stated coldly.

Dirge glanced around as he heard what sounded like a rocket approaching. It was he realised...two actually.

"Duck!" he yelled doing just that. The others turned in surprise to see what was going on.

The Xar tank dived in front of the leader just in time to take the blast. The explosion was loud and powerful enough to slide him backwards.

"Dirge you did not need to duck." Seras stated as the zombie opened his eyes and stared. Seras' shadow wing had formed a half dome in front of them shielding them from the blast.

"Cool!" Zoe exclaimed staring at the wing and wondering if she could get one.

"Take Zoe and run. She's too important to lose." Seras commanded. "Head towards the wreckage, there's some people still alive."

"Very well." Nephthys said. She turned to Zora. "We need to go now!"

Zora did not need telling twice, she grabbed Zoe and they set off sprinting away from the danger zone. Nephthys raced after them keeping herself between the retreating humans and any retaliation from the Xar soldiers.

"What about you?" Dirge asked.

"Don't worry about me." Seras grinned. "I'm not going to be doing most of the fighting. Go. Keep Zoe breathing for me."

"Don't do anything stupid okay!" Dirge shouted as he followed after the first group. Cerberus went with him leaving Seras alone with herselves. She turned back to the Xar and retracted her shadow wing. It curled around her like a constantly in motion black ribbon.

The tank growled. His chest plates were covered in dark soot from the blasts and scratched but remained undamaged.

"You only delay the inevitable." The leader stated from behind the tank.

"These walking corpses are no match for us." The second spoke stepping out.

Seras grinned in an 'I know something you don't' way and indicated with a finger to look behind themselves.

The leader felt something tap his shoulder and he spun around blades at the ready only to receive a large clawed and armour plated fist in the face plate. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground. The other two spun as well and as one the three Xar soldiers gaped.

Ggothua drew his fist back and spun his wrist in a full three hundred and sixty degrees pleased to have a proper form once more.

"That was most...gratifying." he mused.

------------

"Hey Doc." Alistair waved as the group pulled up to him. Zora was breathing hard from the sprint but Zoe was fine and the zombies did not need to breathe.

"Did only you two survive?" Zora stared between them.

"Yup." Hammer stated as he tossed the grenade launcher away. He eyed the zombies warily. "They won't attack us will they?"

"No buddy we won't." Dirge snapped.

"Now, now Dirge. They are merely concerned for their wellbeing." Nephthys spoke.

"You can talk?" Hammer asked her curiously while taking in her curves.

"I can also see where you are staring." Nephthys said dangerously.

"Soz girly." Hammer grinned before turning serious. "The vampire said we should hightail it outta here once you guys were over. Let's book!"

The group set off jogging away. Dirge and Nephthys took the lead, Zoe and Zora in the middle and Alistair and Hammer took the rear. Speaking of rears.

"It's kind of a nice view." Hammer stated staring at Nephthys. "If you ignore certain things dontcha think?" he asked Alistair.

"Dude, she's dead."

"She's still hot though." Hammer grinned.

"The Gods favour us tonight." Nephthys stated as they jogged.

Dirge gave her a stare that could have melted steel. "Every time you say that things get..."

The group skidded to a halt seeing what was ahead of them. A wall of zombies was approaching slowly towards them.

"Worse..." Dirge finished. "Where the hell did they all come from?" he asked whipping his head up and down the line.

"I do not know." Nephthys said staring in surprise at the zombie wall. They just wandered slowly towards them; obviously they did not smell the humans as their vests were all still working. If they had not been the zombies would have been whipped into a frenzy.

"Are they Seras'?" Dirge asked looked at Zoe. She shook her head. "Backup." Dirge commanded. "We'll have to find another route."

------------

"I'll leave you guys to get reacquainted." Seras grinned sadistically before glancing at the road where Priest should have been. He was not there but the trail of blood leading away gave her a good idea where he had gone. "I need to make a confession." With that said she faded from sight.

"The fallen ones appear." The leader claimed rising back to his feet. His faceplate had a fine crack in it from the impact of Ggothua's fist. Luckily it was not too damaged otherwise he would be slowly choking to death at this moment.

"We are the Hands of God." Ggothua stated sounding smug his exposed tentacles writhed in anticipation. His now blood red eight eyed stare bored into the Xar soldiers. He breathed out a steamy breath from between his needle-like teeth and pondered in interest how strange it was to not need his armour now to survive outside.

"We have been summoned on a matter of waste disposal." His third part stated as the tentacles attached to its faceplate wriggled. Blood flowed down the grooves in his armour in time with an unheard pulse. The hole in his chest that caused his death still there.

"She demands your extinction." The second part finished. No one knew how it talked without a head.

"Traitors!" the second hissed raising its arm, the needle launcher popping up from its forearm.

------------

Seras reappeared by the edge of the woods as the sounds of battle filled the air. She grinned in amusement at what Ggothua had just said to the three Xar soldiers sent to kill her.

"I could get use to being called god." She chuckled and glanced down at the trail on the ground. The dirt was flattened as if something had been dragged across it and covered in patches of blood. Seras followed the trail into the darkened forest. The deeper in she got the more the trail changed. The blood seemed to stop and now thick black patches were visible.

She knelt down by one and dipped the tip of her pointer finger in the pool. Seras sniffed the substance carefully and frowned. She knew exactly what this was.

"That's very odd." She stated quietly to herself before looking up as a wet gurgling cough came from nearby. Listening in she heard a faint groan and a heartbeat.

Seras approached the noise slowly. There was a large bush in the way so she reached out with her shadow arm to wrap it entirely around the bush. With a single move she pulled the bush out of the ground and tossed it away revealing what was left of Priest.

Even she paused seeing the mess before her. Priest lay with his back against a tree, propped up with his left arm. He focused on her the smile missing from his face now just a look of agony. Where Seras had expected to see his intestines was a mass of pulsing rotten looking flesh. Black veins covered the lumps of tissue that were stretched tight, filled with a black liquid. His right arm had swollen grossly to three times its true size, tearing his sleeve away. Blisters of the black liquid covered the former arm and even as she watched one burst leaking its disgusting contents.

Seras knelt down in front of Priest and stared, a look of pity crossed her face.

"Have you come to mock demon?" he asked slowly as if having trouble thinking his words through.

"I had come to fight actually." Seras told him with a sad smile. "But not now."

"So...what will you do now?"

"I guess you're a regenerator." Seras stated staring at the arm. "Your regeneration is speeding along the replication of Nekrosis in your cells. You've become a Nekrosis factory."

"If there's any humanity left in you Seras Victoria you'll give me a quick death."

"I daren't." Seras stated. "I can't let them get hold of this. If I kill you the massive amounts of Nekrosis in you will...god if it can replicate this fast..." Seras looked at him. "If I took you the Nekrosis would make me very ill as well for a while but you..."

"No! I wish to die not live on damned as your slave."

"Then I know no way to kill you without letting the Nekrosis control you." Seras stated. "It cannot take over a living nervous system. It is not that strong."

"Fire." Priest said. "Cleanse me by fire."

Seras stared for a moment thinking. He was right. The heat would destroy the parasites. "I'll find something as quickly as I can."

Seras stood and turned in the direction of her master. Something was wrong; Zoe was heading back towards the battlefield.

_Master! What are you doing?_ Seras sent her thoughts to Zoe.

_Seras?_ Zoe asked curiously back.

_Who do you think Master?_ Seras sent. _You're going the wrong way!_

_Seras we can't go that way! Zombies! We've never seen so many!_

"What?" Seras spoke before taking to the sky. She shot up high into the air and paused to hover. She looked down and her eyes went wide before narrowing in fury.

"Damn them!" Seras growled. The entire countryside was covered with corpses. Thousands of the walking dead moved in towards the battlefield. They would be entirely surrounded. "They've planned this from the beginning!"

As she watched on explosions of blue light were seen in the distance, one after the other.

"I'll be right back. I know where there's some petrol."

------------

The Xar tank kept firing into the vampire's corpses. Those caught near the edge of the blast sites were sent flying. Those caught in the blasts vaporised. The entire battlefield was becoming littered with smoking craters as he kept a steady stream of energy blasts going.

A spinning disc tore through the air at him which he saw a mile off. The tank battered it aside with his armoured forearm. The fallen ones were proving difficult to take out. They moved far faster than they had once done, capable of keeping up with the other quicker parts. He himself had no chance of catching them with the cannon so he had been relegated to taking out the corpses.

The third fallen one, the one with a hole through his chest charged in at him too fast for him to avoid. They clashed together with an almighty thud. Both grabbed the others hands and they began a test of strength. Neither one gave an inch as they wrestled.

"This will not end well for you." The tank stated. "You will be destroyed and forgotten."

"Negative." Ggothua's third part replied. "Even if I am I shall rise again. As long as she lives so do we her servants."

"Then we shall cut you down time and time again."

"We shall see."

The tank was going to reply when something heavy landed on his back and began chewing on his breathing hoses that fed to the tank on his back.

"What?" The Xar tank exclaimed realising it was the tiger. This was enough of a distraction for Ggothua's third part to pull a fist free and slam it with all his now enhanced strength into the point just below the tank's chest plate and at the flexible part. His claws cut into the tank and his reward was a black liquid squirting out.

"I have you." Ggothua's third part stated ripping a plate free. He quickly reformed a fist and punched again at the now exposed softer parts. His fist punctured right into the Xar tank's abdomen area. His victory was short lived as not only did a black liquid squirt out but a sliver liquid as well. When this new liquid hit him it solidified and began burning into him like acid.

Ggothua's third part pulled his arm back and roared in agony even as most of his arm melted off right to the elbow.

The Xar tank dropped to one knee and chuckled even as he began bleeding thick black blood from the wound.

"How do like it?" he asked knowing he was now damaged badly enough to have to activate the last resort. "Our armour has a secondary defence system now. Highly pressurised and heated element Ag kept in a liquid form just under the plating. Even if you hurt us we hurt you."

Ggothua's third part growled realising what the honeycomb pattern in the armour was now. He relayed that information to the others.

"Activating final resort." The Xar tank stated dragging itself back to its feet in a last act of defiance. He charged Ggothua's third part grappling him and holding him tight in a bear hug. "Good bye fallen one."

All along the Xar tank's armour plating, where there was a honeycomb shape opened up like pores on skin. The highly pressurise silver was expunged almost instantly in every direction possible. Ggothua's third part was unable to escape and the silver burned into him rapidly breaking him down. As the last of Ggothua's third part melted the Xar tank fell forward unable to keep his weight on his feet and his life giving substance continued pouring out. The Xar tank's consciousness retreated from the body and rejoined with the leaders.

------------

Ggothua and headless-Ggothua paused in their attacks receiving the information about the silver in the armour of the new Xar soldiers.

The leader and second also paused.

"So you know what you are up against now." The leader stated.

Ggothua growled. He was coated in those needles. Fortunately, they were not very effective. They stung for a short while but they were that fine that once they dissolved an insignificant amount of his body they fell out. His wounds left would heal too fast to be of consequence. The leader's blades though where a different story. Headless-Ggothua was also armless-Ggothua at the moment.

"You cannot win this..." the second started to say when a black shadowy wing wrapped around his head and with a quick twist it was removed. A geyser of black liquid shot out of the neck before another geyser of silver exploded out of the armour. The silver hardened in the air far too quickly to reach Ggothua and they all looked up even as the second body fell to the ground.

Seras hovered and dropped the head to the ground.

"Sorry Mr. Ggothua. I need this over quickly now." Seras snarled dropping to the ground and facing the leader. She did not look happy. The remaining ghouls she had created all slowly decayed away returning to her, everyone but Ggothua's main part.

The leader snarled and got ready to attack her. He leapt into the air aiming to land on her so he could cut her to pieces. He never landed. Some force wrapped around his limbs and he found himself held there in the air.

"Not a chance." Seras growled as she held him in place. "I'm through playing with you Xar. Take this message back to the hive. You started this war...you wanted it. But by god I am going to finish it!"

"You are a fool!" the leader laughed. "We cannot send that message. We chose to sever ourselves to protect the hive from you! Our battles will have been watched from a distance and your abilities recorded for analysis. Next time will not go in your favour!"

Seras glared at him in utter hatred. "Just die."

Her shadow wing shot out slicing through the leader so fast the silver that laced his body did not have time to even touch her. Seras then telekinetically sent the parts flying away from her as the leader's last resort went off.

Seras glared at the spot he had once occupied thinking about all the death they had caused. She gripped her fist tightly. She would make the hive pay.

She turned towards Ggothua who knelt down and bowed his head to her. "Your soldier awaits new orders. Master."

Seras placed her shadowy wing on his shoulder. "Return to me for now. I will have use for you in time."

"Yes my master." Ggothua replied before he was sucked up into Seras' shadow arm. Seras turned her attention to the direction Zoe was coming from. They had been making a large circle around trying to find a way through the zombies. Seras had finally sent her a message that they were completely surrounded and to return to the battlefield.

The group of humans and zombies came into sight and ran over to the vampire.

"Seras? You okay?" Dirge asked as he approached noting she did not look happy.

"Not really." Seras growled. "I..." she stared at Dirge unable to bring herself to tell him what she had learned. "It nothing important. We need to get out of here somehow."

"How?" Nephthys asked.

"Easy for you and Dirge." Seras turned to her. "You two can just blend into the crowd and walk away. This lot not so easy. The zombies will be able to tell they're alive once they're in touching distance."

"You better come up with a way quickly." Nephthys said pointing. "They come."

Seras stared and growled again. "I can fly one person out and unfortunately that means Zoe." She turned to the Zora. "Zora, I'm sorry about everything. I wanted to tell you but was...too much of a coward. I can't let them take Zoe, she has to live."

Zora stared at the vampire unsure what to say or do. Finally she nodded. "I understand. Get her out of here and look after her."

"Listen, I can offer you a quick death or...huh?" Seras paused as her ears picked up something unusual. Cerberus' ears also pricked up.

"What is it?" Dirge asked concerned again.

"I don't believe it!" Seras grinned and pointed south. "It's a Blackhawk!"

"Soren?" Zora stared in the direction and squinting.

"Look!" Zoe pointed out. "There's a flashing light!"

"Does that mean we're getting out of here after all?" Hammer asked.

"Looks like it dude." Alistair grinned.

"You are a damned good luck charm bud. I ain't moving more than a few feet from you ever again." Hammer stated lightly thumping Alistair on the shoulder. Well lightly for a Hammer blow. "Guys wait a minute for me. I'll be right back." Hammer ran off towards the remains of the Ark.

"What's he doing?" Zora asked Alistair who shrugged.

Within a few minutes the sound of the chopper was heard by the humans. The sleek aircraft was soon hovering over them as the humans began waving attracting their attention. A long rope ladder was thrown down.

"Up you go my master!" Seras grinned as she lifting Zoe up to the ladder. Zoe caught the ladder and climbed onto it. She turned back to Dirge and Nephthys.

"You guys promised to visit!" she shouted.

"We will!" Dirge shouted back over the noise. "But if you don't get moving we won't have anyone to visit!"

Zoe grinned before scaling up the ladder. Zora went next, then Alistair.

"Where is he?" Seras asked looking for Hammer. The zombies were almost on them attracted by the noise.

"There he is!" Dirge pointed as the big man came sprinting across to them.

"I suggest running zombie friends." He stated taking hold of the bottom of the ladder.

"Why?" Dirge asked.

"Cause I just set the engines away on full power Bra-man." Hammer grinned climbing and shouted down. "The cells will overload soon and then the fireworks start. Yeehaw!"

"Bra-man?" Dirge spluttered before raising his fist to Hammer. "Come back here and say that!"

"Seriously Dirge," Seras smiled taking hold of the bottom rung. "Go before they blow."

"You better not..." Dirge started to say as the Blackhawk began lifting away.

"Don't worry I'll be seeing you!" Seras called back.

"Wait!" Dirge shouted running after her as the Blackhawk began moving away. "What about your coffin?"

"Don't worry about it!" Seras called back. "I've sent it to a safe place."

Dirge halted and waved as the chopper disappeared into the night.

"We must go now." Nephthys stated catching him up. "Come along...Bra-man."

"Hey!!"

------------

The night was lit up as a massive explosion ripped through it. A large mushroom shaped cloud of dust, flames and smoke rose slowly into the air billowing out as it expanded. The noise came shortly after.

"Well now..." a zombie cowboy stated as he folded away his brass telescope and placed it back in his duster. "Ain't that the craziest thing ya ever did witness?"

"Caw." The zombie bird agreed on his shoulder.

"Seems missy Hellsing is something special." Gallows pondered. "An' she be protectin' those humans."

"Caaaaaw." The bird asked.

"Of course we're still gonna get em all. We just have to smarter about it with something like her hangin' around." Gallows grinned staring in the direction the helicopter had gone. He was going to check out that battlefield first, see what he could discover. He needed to carefully re-plan his assault and find out if anything was useful to him if he had to confront her.

"Yep. I is sure glad I didn't pull that trigger. Otherwise old Gallows here would probably have been six feet under."

It would take time to rework his plan to get rid of all the humans. But what was time to someone like him?

Epilogue

Dr. Zora Elgin strolled down the featureless corridors heading towards the research labs, where a certain vampiress was currently being held under very watchful eyes. Maybe held was not the correct term; more like a dangerous guest that could leave at anytime. Zora had no doubts after witnessing Seras' abilities that night that if she wanted to, she could escape from the quarantine area with ease.

In fact, Zora suspected Seras was even stronger than she had shown them during that battle from two days ago. _Was that all it was?_ _Two days ago? _Zora thought feeling like it had been a lifetime since being rescued. She had never been so glad to see Soren than when he helped her into the chopper and to safety; well as safe as you could be with a monster...Zora caught herself, with a vampire, who was a nice person.

Surreal. That was what it was Zora decided. Seras, the nicest person she had known, was a creature of legend that preyed on the living. A creature that until two days ago she did not believed existed. That same young and sometimes bubbly girl who at times had a strange innocence about her was capable of tearing steel apart with her bare hands.

_Actually_, Zora thought. _She's_ _not a girl at all. She's_ _well_ _over twice my age_.

Definitely surreal, Zora shook her head in amusement as she caught sight of the two guards placed outside the quarantine area. As if they could stop Seras if she wanted out.

The guards regarded her curiously, or more precisely, the lumpy at the bottom plastic bag she carried for a moment before returning to their guarding. Zora was one of the few given full access to come and go by Soren, and so was not to be prevented entering.

She quickly tapped the access code in at the number pad lock by the door. There was a beep, and the door slid open with the computerised voice saying she had been granted access.

Soren Barrack glanced up; his eyes peered over the top of the book he was studying as Zora entered the quarantine area. He was reclining in one of the plastic chairs setup in the observation area, keeping a close eye on their guest.

"Zora, come to check up on our guest?" He asked eyeing the bag she carried suspiciously and placed the book, pages down so as to not lose his place, down on the table beside him.

"Actually I came to talk with her." Zora smiled faintly turning towards him. The door slid shut behind her as she walked over.

"Good luck with that." Soren laughed sardonically. "Tallman's not stopped asking her questions since daybreak, and there's no sign of her winding down." He shook his shaven head before asking the burning question "What's in the bag?"

Zora hesitated just enough for Soren to narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"I bought her something to eat. She's been in there with nothing for two days now." Zora said embarrassedly with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh." Soren replied relaxing slightly before what she had said actually registered. "Wait a minute! Where did you get it?" he asked sitting up straight as he realised what Zora must have in the bag. There was only one thing a real true to life vampire needed to eat.

Zora carefully rolled her left sleeve up slowly, revealing a bruised patch of skin just below her bicep.

"Jesus...Zora." Soren stared. "You didn't...no wait...you did...why?"

"I owe her Soren. Everything she did, it was all to protect Zoe or even ourselves from herself. She's saved Zoe's life twice now from whatever those things are. I owe her more than just a few quarts of blood that I'll recover in a day or so."

Soren stared hard at Zora. Then with a sigh he rubbed a hand over the top of his head. "Well...just be careful okay. Don't make this a habit and _don't_ let your guard down..."

"She won't hurt me." Zora stated.

"She's still not human. Remember that Zora, she doesn't think like we do."

Zora stared at the lieutenant for a moment before she responded. "She's a nice person. The nicest I've met, even if she isn't human. She likes Zoe enough that she let herself become bound to serve and protect her."

"And that's the scariest part." Soren shook his head and glanced down the room towards the large reinforced glass window that separated the airlock area and the quarantine room beyond. He watched Professor Tallman talking avidly with the vampire through the speakers. Every now and again she would scribble something rapidly in her notepad. Seras was sat in a chair by the second window, seemingly chatting happily with the other woman even though she was in confinement. "Zoe has final say in what she does. The power you describe in the hands of a child...a child that hasn't been treat the best by us. All of us." And in a quieter voice he finished. "It scares me."

"I know." Zora smiled gently. "But from now on we have to give her the trust she deserves. Look at it this way; we've gained an extremely effective defence against zombies. Not to mention, a possible way at fighting Nekrosis. Her blood fights off the virus...we just need to figure out a way that it won't kill us first."

"I'll admit one thing." Soren said watching Seras for a moment before returning his gaze to Zora. "I agree with her on that. That idea is a bad one. She said so herself, trading one form of undeath for another."

"There's always a chance it'll work." Zora shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, I'm willing to believe anything is possible now after all I've seen. Super humans, talking zombies, vampires, and other things."

"It just all sounds so crazy." Soren sighed in a put upon kind of way.

"It'll be alright in the end." Zora smiled and made her way around him, heading towards the airlock. "I have hope now."

"I hope you're right Zora." Soren stated picking his book back up as she wandered past.

"What are you reading anyway?" she asked turning back to gaze in interest at the simple black cover.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula." Soren replied showing her the cover fully. "If...what she claims is true...and this is actually a historic text mistaken as a work of fiction, I want to be prepared for anything."

Zora chuckled to herself as she walked up to the airlock. Once again she typed in the access codes and with a hiss and the sound of smoothly moving machinery, the airlock door opened allowing her access. She stepped into the chamber and the airlock sealed behind her.

"Decontamination in progress. Please wait." The computer voice stated as various gases were pumped into the chamber with a hiss. Zora waited patiently until the noises ceased and the second lock opened allowing her to exit.

"Hey Zora!" Seras greeted her with a wave from behind the glass which she returned without giving it a second thought.

"How're you doing?" Zora asked walking over to the window.

"Fine." Seras grinned. "Any word on when you'll let me out?"

"Soren's still dragging his feet." Zora glanced back through the other window at the lieutenant. He did not look up and continued reading. "Hopefully soon."

"I can't wait."

"I agree." Tallman spoke up. "The sooner you're out the sooner we can begin with the tests. There's only so much we can learn from a blood sample. You're an entire new species! And then there's those other zombies, the variants you called them. This is going to keep us busy for years! Both represent an ability to resist the full effects of Nekrosis! The possibilities are mind-blowing!"

The professor paused in her spiel as she realised both the other women were giving her half-lidded stares.

"Whoops." Tallman coughed. "Sorry, I got carried away there."

"I noticed." Zora replied.

"Well, I think I have enough to type up for now." Tallman stated flicking through the many pages of scrawled notes she had to type up and study. She pulled herself to her feet and stretched. "I'll leave you two to chat."

"Are you really okay?" Zora asked once the professor had left.

"Yup." Seras grinned.

"Well...it's just your stuck in there when you should already be out." Zora pulled over the chair and sat down.

"You really think I'd still be in here if I didn't want to be?" Seras chuckled and leaned forward towards the glass. "Watch this."

Seras kept leaning forward. Her head touched the glass and then passed straight through it causing Zora's eyes to widen in surprise as the vampire phased through. Seras rested her elbows on the ledge near Zora and leaned her chin against her hands, half in the quarantine room and half in the viewing area. She gave Zora a playful wink.

"What?" Seras asked innocently at Zora's expression of disbelief.

"That's imposs..." Zora stared before shaking her head. "Only you could break the rules of physics while making it look innocent."

"That's me!"

"Well seeing as you're out here, I've brought you a present." Zora stated handing Seras the plastic bag.

"Oooooh." Seras took the offered bag. She opened it and looked inside. There was a small packet of blood and a lot of ice cubes.

"I thought you might be hungry after having nothing for two days now." Zora stated as Seras raised her head to look at her again.

"Is it yours?" Seras asked carefully, surprised that Zora would bring blood to her.

"Yeah." Zora coughed slightly embarrassed. "I've even sterilised it so it's clean of Nekrosis. It won't give you an upset stomach. Oh, and yes it's fine. I've drunk plenty of fluids and have had a good meal before coming here." Zora noted the concern on Seras' face. _Once again she proves she cares about us_, she thought.

"Thank you." Seras thanked her in a small voice.

"I can give you a bit every week if..."

"Zora! You don't need to do that." Seras interrupted her.

"But if you starve..."

Seras laughed before reaching out her free hand and placing it gently on Zora's shoulder. "Unless I'm hurt this is more than enough to last me a month. I only need enough to take the edge away. I can go for a long time without feeding."

"Oh...I still feel like I owe you for you offering yourself to protect Zoe."

"No Zora, you don't owe me anything. I don't need someone feeling like they owe me blood or anything else." Seras told her gently. "All I need is a friend, okay?"

Zora stared into Seras' eyes for a moment. Those strange red orbs that used to be blue when she had been hiding what she was, held a look of hopefulness in them. Red eyes that on anyone but Seras would have been creepy and yet on her seemed to fit.

Zora was about to reply when a crash from the other room drew both their attentions. Soren's legs were seen pointing up towards the ceiling for a moment before he scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the window and stared in, his hands placed on the glass and his face a picture of surprise.

"Uh ho." Seras stated as the lieutenant gaped, mouth moving like a fish's on dry land.

------------

"Almost done now." Pip told his newest colleague as he dug into the blackness that was the ground here.

"Will this hold him?" Ggothua asked holding a wooden box covered in thick iron chains. It was only four feet long and barely a foot wide. There were muffled bumps from inside it.

"Oh ho!" Pip grinned cheekily as the hole was finished. He placed the shovel into the ground. "After the boss dealt with him and stuck him that box I don't think he'll be going anywhere soon." Pip pulled out his lighter and a cigarette. He lit it and placed it in his mouth.

Ggothua cocked his monstrous head at that. "Did she not say she did not wish you to smoke inside her?"

"Monsieur Ggothua, my mignonette will forgive me." Pip smirked and lightly thumped the massive creature's arm. "Well, I'll let you do the honours."

"Very well." Ggothua stated dropping the box unceremoniously into the recently dug hole. He stared at what had become Fiend's prison for now until eternity. Seras had not been happy with the vampire when she visited him. She had brutally beaten him before dismembering the vampire, staking him and stuffing him into a box that was just too small for all the bits, and now they were burying it away at the furthest corner of Seras' conscious so that he could never bother them again.

Pip then began the task of refilling the hole. Once done he leaned back and with a thought the shovel vanished along with the excess earth.

"Now what happens?" Ggothua asked turning to the human.

"Well, we can either wait patiently for Seras to need us or..."

"Or?"

"Do you know how to play poker?" Pip grinned making a pack of cards appear.

------------

The sun shone down through the breaks in the overcast sky, beaming down on the docks as many uniformed men and women went about loading the former aircraft carrier. A chill wind blew in from the sea, bringing with it the smell of the ocean and a faint undercurrent of death.

He walked slowly along the concrete dock, savouring all the looks of fear that the humans would send him as he passed them. He paused and glanced up at the ship as a helicopter slowly lowered itself to the deck. He smiled in amusement at the name that had been given to the ship.

Demeter II.

"Now that brings back memories." Alucard grinned evilly as the wind picked up and blew his long hair and deep red cloak around. He folded his armour-plated arms and smiled contently. Anyone who saw him smiling like that crossed themselves or hurriedly made sure they placed some distance between themselves and the vampire. Whenever he seemed content it meant a massively destructive battle was coming.

"This had better not turn out to be a waste of time servant." Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, the last leader of England's remaining people stated approaching the no-life king from behind. "All of our remaining resources are going into this."

"Trust me Countess, my young childe has found our true enemy." Alucard stated scratching his beard in thought. "Not the pathetic reanimated corpses that I have been made to waste my time on. No, creatures that might give me some fun!"

Integra stepped in beside her servant using her expensive looking black and silver cane she used now. They both looked to the west the wind blowing their hair, one white as snow with age and the other black as night. "If what you claim is true then we must go and destroy our enemy. Through our efforts England is mostly cleaned of the undead."

"Until another human dies," Alucard chuckled. "And then I must go and destroy it. And so on and so forth until no humans remain and then I'll truly be king of the dead."

Integra eyed him. "Your point Alucard?"

"It would be such a waste if you were to, shall we say die before we get there." Alucard turned to look down at her with a gentle smile that looked completely out of place on his face. "Something I could solve for you..."

"I may be getting on servant, but I have no intention of dying yet. Nor do I want your cure for that problem. Not until I'm certain you are bound tightly to a successor."

"I can't tempt you even in the slightest can I?"

"No you can't Count." Integral smirked. "Is it because you find me unattractive in my old age that your offers keep increasing in frequency?"

"Of course not Master." Alucard laughed. "You're more beautiful than ever!"

"Tell me of this girl again..."

------------

The earth shuddered slightly as something pushed up from underneath it. A thin spidery leg poked its way out. Another followed it and after that a cracked and blue glowing lens pulled itself free from the ground. The battered remains of the scout shook the dirt from its body and took a quick scan of the damage.

Its wings had been all but destroyed in the explosion and the subsequent burial. Its outer shell was fractured and barely retaining his insides intact. But that did not matter, he lived still.

He had survived in the end. He had managed to transfer most of his mind into the scout seconds before the vampire creature had sliced his body to pieces. The scout could not fully contain all of his parts and some had to be abandoned. He was fractured and left in the weak form of the scout. But he still lived; eventually he would make it back to the hive.

They would re-evaluate the vampire creature and come back stronger. He would rise once more and destroy it. He would...movement behind him!

He tried to run but did not get very far as a booted foot slammed down on him, pinning him to the ground. His legs waved around uselessly, unable to gain any purchase to escape.

"Well now...what do we hav ere?" Gallows leaned down examining the curious metal insect he had found.

The End

**The Variant and the Vampire: Plague**

Prologue

Destiny City, once upon a time it had been a showcase city, a pinnacle of engineering and technology proudly on display for the entire the world to see. Now, just an empty ghost town, filled only with the remains of what were once living creatures. Humans and animals now all just reanimated and eternally hungry corpses with one mission in their un-life. To extinguish anything that still possessed that precious spark.

It was early November 2048 and winter's grasp had come in without warning, suddenly and viciously. The land became gripped by a bitter cold, the likes of which had not been seen for many years. The city's streets and buildings were all covered in a deep layer of frozen snow, and when the wind dropped, it gave the city a bright sparkling white image, hiding much of the remnants of the horrific battles that had scarred it in years previous.

The sky overhead was a covered in a murky thick yellow-grey cloud cover, filled to the brim with more snow that it seemed to enjoy sprinkling on the land below. The wind was howling violently, sending the falling snow into a blizzard that made it nearly impossible to see a few feet in front of your face. Huge snow drifts had been building slowly and steadily where the buildings blocked the windborne snow from passing.

The temperature was below zero and adding on the wind-chill factor, it was cold enough to freeze anything stupid enough to stay outside for any length of time. Zombies were not seen on the streets, any that may have been outside were likely buried under the snow and frozen solid, not likely to move again until they thawed out, maybe months from now. The one and only blessing of a hard winter to any survivors.

From deep within the swirling and drifting snow, a shape moved. At first barely seen, the shape was merely a faint grey outline within the raging blizzard. Slowly the shape began to darken and resolve itself. It was, in actuality not a single shape but two. Two huddled figures trudging through the drifting snow which came to just below their knees.

Two people, covered in thick dirty grey hooded cloaks, features, clothing and even genders completely hidden by the hoods, held their heads down against the blizzard and pushed on through the bitter cold. The pair huddled together, the larger one slightly in front, leading and providing somewhat more protection against the elements to the smaller figure.

The largest of the pair glanced up, for a moment revealing a formally well groomed beard, now more than a little scraggily, as he scanned the sky. The rest of his face was still hidden by the hood, revealing nothing else of his features or even an expression as he glanced up. He glanced back the way they had came, nervously, his movements quick and sharp, birdlike, giving the impression he was looking out for a predator.

With a feminine yelp, the other person slipped and stumbled forwards, losing her footing on the treacherous snow covered ground.

"Amelia!" the man exclaimed, instantly taking hold of her shoulders and steadying her until she regained her footing. "Are you well? Is it the light?" he asked in concern. His voice was strong and accented, sounding European, possibly German and yet it was not definite.

"I am fine my love." Amelia reassured him in a strong Londoner accent while she pulled her cloak tighter around her and held it securely closed with one pale slim hand. "We need to find a shelter soon. The blizzard..."

"We cannot stop." He told her as he held her shoulders lightly and looked down at her. "Every second wasted brings them closer to us."

"But Bodenolf..." Amelia bit her lower lip. "I...I don't know how much longer the cells will last. I was never any good with this technology stuff...I had enough trouble with gas lamps and electricity."

"I know." Bodenolf told her gently. "The child is still alive and warm, yes?"

"Yes, the blankets are still heated for now." Amelia nodded and glanced down to where she held an important wrapped bundle to her chest. "He sleeps still."

"Then we push on. Settlement A-1 is in this area. We have to find it and drop the child off with them where he will be safe."

"Will he really be safe there? I promised her to protect him with everything I have."

"The child will be far safer there than with us...we both know that."

"Y...you're ri..." Amelia's reply was never finished.

Behind them, the way they had just came, something large and extremely heavy smashed into the ground with a crash. Snow exploded upwards from the impact, scattering into the air and adding to the blizzard, blurring whatever it was that had hit the ground.

Bodenolf and Amelia reacted as one, turning to stare in surprise and fear as the now familiar throb of energy was felt through the air. In the distance they saw a blurred dark shape, probably crouched from the landing as it did not stand as tall as they remembered it. A blue light was seen flowing downwards in time with the heavy throb.

Three dots of blue light, arranged in a triangle turned to regard them dispassionately.

"Sheisse! It's found us!" Bodenolf grabbed Amelia's arm. "Run!"

They took off at a struggling run, knee deep in snow slowing them down dramatically. The large Xar cocked his head to the right before slowly standing to his full height. Its eyes glowed brighter for a moment before it began giving chase. It lumbered casually forwards, the snow no problem to him and his clawed feet. The Xar gave the impression it was in no hurry as it tracked the fleeing pair.

Bodenolf risked a glance over his shoulder. The beast was keeping its distance for some reason. He had a sudden realisation; it was enjoying stalking them, like a cat stalking an unaware bird. It was the only thing that made sense. His loathing for the strange mechanical beast that had been chasing them for so many nights grew with that realisation.

He clenched his teeth in anger, even as he began searching for a place to escape to. He suddenly spotted it.

"This way!" Bodenolf shouted tugging Amelia in a different direction. The pair stumbled into a narrow alleyway. "Move!"

Half dragging, half leading her, he rushed down the narrow and dirty alleyway. It was littered with rubbish, who knew how old. There was only a light coating of snow in the alleyway, but that made the ground more treacherous as they picked their way over the waste.

"Wait!" he commanded coming to a halt.

"What are you planning?" Amelia asked disquieted by the sudden change in Bodenolf.

"Look." He indicated back the way they had come.

At the entrance to the alley, the Xar's tri-clawed hand gripped the brickwork at either side. It poked its armoured head into the alley and glanced to either side, judging the distance. There was no way it could fit its massive bulk into the alley. It then looked right at them, almost appraisingly.

"It...It can't fit through." Amelia stated. A faint ghost of a grin touched her lips at the situation.

The Xar cocked his head before looking up to study the buildings to either side of the alley. It paused a moment before looking back at them.

Bodenolf frowned as the beast's shoulders seemed to shake. This was followed by a gurgling noise, almost like laughter. The Xar slammed its claws into the brickwork and began to climb up the building, all the time keeping its eyes on them.

"Dammit!" he hissed while watching the beast climbing towards the roof.

"Bodenolf?" Amelia's grin had faded.

"It knows we can only go one of two ways." He growled turning to look at her. "Once it's on the roof it can follow us easily. It'll drop down on us if we leave this alleyway...we're trapped."

"We can't stay here! The child..."

"I know!" Bodenolf growled punching the brickwork across from him in frustration. He clenched his teeth and tried to think as he held his fist against the wall. He stared at it, not really seeing the wall before him. There was only one thing he could think of. He risked a glance towards Amelia from the corner of his eyes and made his mind up.

"I have to fight it." Bodenolf stated pulling his fist away from the cracked bricks. He dusted the small splinters of stone from his unmarked knuckles.

"No! It's too strong, even for you!"

"Listen!" Bodenolf told her taking her by the shoulders. "I'll hold it off for as long as I can. You have to run with the child and escape."

"I won't leave you!"

"You will. You have to." He told her. "You made a promise to her. If you get killed here by that thing you'll never fulfil it. You've never broken a promise yet...and I don't want you starting now my angel of the night."

Bodenolf pushed her hood back to look at her face for what may be his last time. Amelia's long platinum blond hair spilled out as the hood fell away. He gently cupped her chin and gazed at her beautiful and young appearing face, taking in every detail. Her deceptively fine bone structure hid her true strength from most; it was only her golden yellow eyes that gave away what she really was.

Bodenolf pushed his own hood slightly back, revealing his squareish face. He was not a strikingly handsome man, but not quite plain. His nose was slightly crooked, having once been broken and badly set. Despite his plainness something about him made people look twice.

He leaned down causing his medium length dark brown, wavy hair to fall forwards as his crimson eyes met Amelia's golden ones. They held each other's gaze for a moment before embracing for what may be the last time.

"Amelia, take some of my blood. You'll need all the strength possible to save yourself and the child." Bodenolf whispered in her ear, hoping the beast could not hear his plan over the howling wind.

"Where will I go?"

"Find that settlement. Then...just live for me."

"Fight well." Amelia told him after a brief pause. Bodenolf rested his head on her shoulder, giving her easy access to his neck. Amelia hesitated for a moment before steeling herself and opened her mouth, revealing fangs. She pressed them lightly against her husband's neck before biting down and drinking. Bodenolf did not make a sound as he willingly gave some of his strength to her. Even if he was destroyed holding the beast off, a part of him would always be with her.

After Amelia pulled away, Bodenolf rubbed the spot where she had taken blood lightly and glanced upwards. As he expected the beast was on the rooftop above them, calmly observing them.

"This way!" he stated loudly. He gently pushed Amelia in the direction he wanted. Above them the Xar climbed to its feet and followed slowly, tracking them.

"In here." Bodenolf told her kicking the door they had stopped before open. The door crashed to the ground with a loud clatter and they ducked inside. The pair of vampires rushed across the darkened room easily able to see in the dim light. They appeared to be inside a large kitchen of some sort, probably a restaurant sometime in the past.

Coming up to another door, Bodenolf repeated kicking the door off its hinges. The pair came to a surprised halt.

"Damn!" Bodenolf glanced left and right at the charred remains of the building. The building they had entered must have been set on fire during the outbreak. The blizzard swirled around the ruins, hiding much of it. A thud above them caused them to both look up.

"Back inside!" Bodenolf pushed Amelia back through the door they had just come though. "Hide!"

She did not need telling twice and rushed across the kitchen towards another set of doors. She slammed her shoulder into the door shattering it and passed into the room beyond. Amelia swore under her breath at the missing wall, leading back to the front of the building.

Another loud thump of a large object landing nearby made her press her back tightly against the wall to the side of the doorway she had entered. She carefully inched herself into the corner of the room and held herself motionless. To her left the wall fell away.

The throb of energy that flowed through the beast was close by. Close enough to make her teeth rattle, along with the wooden floor below her feet. There was another thud, followed by another. It was the creature's footsteps she realised.

It was close. Close enough for her to hear its gurgling breathing. It reminded her of scuba-diver's breathing equipment, but more menacing. Another thud, this one on the opposite side of the wall she was hid behind. There was a tapping, scraping noise as something metallic was dragged along the other side, starting right by her head.

_Does it know where I am?_ Amelia thought eyes widening. She glanced down at the bundle she held in her arms. The child she was protecting was amazingly still asleep, but now she realised something worrying. She could hear the child's heartbeat easily, and if the beast's hearing was as good as her own...

The breathing noise grew louder as it took a deep breath. It was right next to her, only separated by the crumbling remains of what was once a wall.

A set of sleek, curved black claws appeared, gripping the edge of the wall's remains. There was another throb of energy, followed by the hiss of escaping gases. Amelia knew then with certainty the creature knew she was there as she saw the glowing blue of its eyes as its massive and ugly head smoothly appeared in the corner of her vision. She braced herself, ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Die beast!" Bodenolf's voice bellowed out as he appeared out of the blizzard swinging a heavy lump of concrete attached to a steel reinforcement. The Xar turned to look towards him in time to receive a blow from the improvised weapon across his faceplate. The heavily armoured monster stumbled from the surprise blow.

A second blow sent the Xar to one knee.

"Run Amelia!" Bodenolf bellowed sending blow after blow to the Xar's head, forcing the large creature to its knees. The Xar had to place its hands against the ground from the continued assault.

Amelia moved. She sprinted out from her hiding spot and raced across the ruins. She did not look back as she skidded back into the street and the knee deep snowdrifts. Quickly she wrapped her cloak tighter to shield the child from the elements. With a prayer to anything listening that Bodenolf would survive she pushed forwards.

She ran as best as she could through the deep snow, stumbling now and then, not knowing which direction she was even heading in. If possible the blizzard seemed to be getting worse. The only thing she was thankful about was it blocked out the sunlight. Visibility was practically gone now, but hopefully that made it as hard for the creature to see as it did her.

With a massive thud that shook the earth, the creature landed in front of her, scattering snow. Amelia skidded to a halt in shock.

The Xar had its back to her. A large clear tank of black liquid was seen on its back, bubbling away. A pulse of energy flowed down the grooves in its armour as its head smoothly turned to regard her over one heavyset shoulder. The Xar turned around slowly, taking its own sweet time to face her.

"Nooo." Amelia took a step back.

Under its left arm it held an unmoving Bodenolf. It made a noise, almost like a chuckle before raising its right arm and sprayed a gas in her face.

Amelia fell to her knees as a burning, paralysing sensation spread across her face. She clenched her eyes tightly shut even as they flared into a burning, itching pain. She hissed as she felt tears of blood run uncontrollable down her cheeks. It took all her willpower not to drop the child and claw at her face.

"You bastard!" she growled in pain and bared her fangs. This time the Xar definitely chuckled.

"Both vampire-creatures disabled." It stated in a deep gurgling voice.

"Wha?" Amelia asked in stunned surprise as the beast talked.

"Paralysis drugs administered."

"A pleasing hunt."

"Indeed."

Amelia struggled to her feet. She could not see it, but she could tell there was only one creature before her. Yet, it talked like it was having a conversation with others.

"What are you?" she demanded squinting between bloody eyes.

"Impressive."

"This one shows much greater resilience. A second dosage may be required."

"Excellent. We require stronger vampire-creatures."

"This one will make a fine weapon."

"What do you mean? Weapon!" Amelia hissed through clenched fangs.

"We require a powerful vampire-creature."

"There is a human phrase that is relevant to our situation. Fight fire with fire."

"You..." Amelia hissed again, blinking her eyes as the pain was finally starting the fade. "Expect us to fight for you?" she asked bewildered.

"Affirmative."

"Now, come quietly or there will be...trouble." the Xar threatened as it reached its right clawed hand towards her.

"You'll have to kill me first!" Amelia turned as the blur before moved in closer. The Xar's hand caught her cloak as she turned to run, tearing it off her as she stumbled. She twisted as she fell to land on her rear in the snow. The sudden exposure to the frigid weather woke the child up even as she tried to cover the baby's exposed face with her own body.

The child began crying.

The Xar paused and cocked its head in thought.

"Fascinating."

"The vampire-creature still protects the human child."

"Perhaps it is growing it as food."

"Or maybe it is a female vampire-creature's habit to protect human children. It yearns for something it is unable to do?"

"Irrelevant to the mission. Destroy the human."

"No!" Amelia roared over the child's cries. "You monster!"

"Ironic." The Xar stated leaning in close to her face. Its eyes only inches away from her own as it studied her. "Do humans not call your kind monsters?"

As the Xar reached out to take child, Amelia held him tighter to her chest, shielding him from the Xar. She clenched her eyes shut as the freezing cold, metallic claws lightly brushed her cheek.

The sound of the Xar breathing and the blizzard was suddenly joined by another sound. A gunshot.

Amelia felt something hot pass her face before the Xar roared out in surprise and pain. She opened her eyes in surprise in time to see the Xar stumble backward clutching its free hand to its face. A black liquid oozed out from between its claws.

"What?" The Xar growled turning to face where the shot had come from. Black speckles of some substance splashed against Amelia as the Xar whipped its hand away, revealing one of its three eyes was shattered.

Its targeting systems took over, seeking out the attacker. It spotted a shadowy shape in the window of a build across from it. Just as the Xar began raising its arm to retaliate a second shot was fired, striking another eye with pinpoint accuracy.

The Xar roared as it lost a second eye.

Quickly it weighed up its chances of taking out this sudden attacker without losing a final eye. It was not looking good, seeing as whatever had attacked it seemed to have one hundred percent accuracy. Turning around quick enough for a third bullet to bounce harmlessly off its armour, the Xar decided to retreat. It was a shame to lose the second vampire-creature, but it was a negligible loss. It could always track the female vampire-creature later on.

Not giving their attacker a clean shot the Xar leapt away.

Amelia sat there shell-shocked in the snow as the creature took off. Someone had saved her and the child. She glanced down at the crying child.

"Shush now. I'll get you out of the cold as quick as I can." Amelia quickly pulled her cloak out of the snow and reattached it so she could cover the child.

Behind her she heard the crunch of footsteps on snow as her saviour approached. As a shadow fell upon her she turned and looked up. She gasped.

Before her stood what she had at first thought was a man wearing a pair of dirty black pants, a tattered and stained red shirt. A dirty brown duster that had seen better days hung over his slim body. He held an old bolt action rifle casually across his shoulders. A wide brimmed cowboy hat rested on his head and a thick rope in a noose hung from his around his neck.

But it was his face that caused her surprise. It was a face that was only seen on a zombie, a shrivelled up emaciated skull. No nose remained and one eye was missing, just an empty socket. He held a rolled cigarette between his exposed teeth. His single yellowed eye swivelled in its socket to regard her curiously.

"Yer really a vampire?" he asked in a dry rough, sandpapery sounding voice.

Amelia found herself nodding dumbly. A large undead crow fluttered down and landed on the zombie's shoulder. It cawed menacingly.

"Now then, missy vampire...yer gonna 'plain to ol' Gallows what that was all 'bout."

**Chapter 1**

Zoe Elgin pushed her arms through the bottom of the ugly, in her opinion, tan coloured sweater and began seeking out the arm holes. She soon found them and snaked her hands through the synthetic woollen tunnels until her fingers popped out the ends. Then she raised her arms and pulled the sweater over her head. The sweater itself was a couple of sizes too large for Zoe, and soon the girl found herself lost in the baggy confines as she sought for the elusive neck opening.

After a few annoying moments of fighting with the sweater, she finally found the hole for the neck and pulled down on the stretchy material. The neck of the sweater was tight, especially compared the rest of it and combined with the oversized and stretchy material only Zoe's mop of purple hair was seen sticking out the top.

"Here you go." Zora, Zoe's mother said with a large grin on her face as she took hold of the neck and yanked it roughly downwards. Zora took a step back and giggled at the sight. As the sweater was a turtleneck, and an oversized one at that, it covered the lower half of Zoe's face and she glared at her mother.

"Mooooom!" Zoe protested from behind the material half covering her face and folded her arms, the ends of the sleeves hanging limply past her fingers. "I can manage by myself!"

"Of course you can dear." Zora folded the neck down while ignoring the yelp of indignation from her daughter. Taking a step back to get a better look at Zoe's clothes to ensure they were going to keep her warm enough.

"Hmm? Will you be warm enough with just that?" Zora asked, mostly to herself as she puzzled over it.

"Mom, you've made me wear two t-shirts and this...thing." Zoe let the distaste she felt for the sweater enter her voice. "I'll be warm enough. Don't worry so much." She finished with a roll of her eyes and a put upon sigh.

"It's minus five outside and blowing a blizzard. This base gets almost as cold in the untraveled areas in the basement, which I might add, are your favourite hiding spots. Besides, I'm your mother. I'm allowed to worry about you as much as I want." Zora replied.

"I'll be fine. I'm not a little girl anymore."

"Don't worry, no matter how big you get I'll still worry about you."

"Aww perfect..." Zoe mumbled while grinning.

Zora smiled back, feeling a sense of peace that had been missing between the two of them for so long. Six years she had not believed or really trusted her own child and her story. Six years, Zora was

still disturbed by that fact. She had almost grown to accept that the rift between them might never be bridged.

To find out Zoe's story was true, that the entire community had punished Zoe, unjustly, for speaking about something that was the truth and that had led the girl to try and escape the oppressive towards her behaviour of the adults, the people she should have been able to trust was a disconcerting experience.

Thankfully, since their narrow escape, subsequent return to the Acropolis and the revelation that Seras was indeed an undead creature of the night, Zora had done her best to mend the damage done and Zoe had been forgiving. That was humbling to Zora; she felt that she would not have had the strength to forgive if she had gone through all that oppression.

"Mom?" Zoe's voice brought Zora out of her contemplations with a start.

"What was that?"

"You're spacing out Mom."

"Sorry, I was thinking about things." Zora apologised.

"Oh." Zoe replied as she rolled up the second sleeve to match the first, so they wouldn't cover over her hands completely. She fully expected them to unroll throughout the day and become an annoyance.

While Zoe adjusted her sweater, Zora moved over to the small bedside drawers that sat by her bed. She took hold of the handle of the second drawer down and pulled it smoothly open. Reaching inside she shuffled the odds and ends around until she found what she wanted.

"Come here Zoe, I'll straighten out your hair for you." Zora smiled as she brandished the hairbrush she held in one hand. Zora lowered herself to sit on the edge of her bed and patted the spot beside her.

Zoe looked surprised for a moment before she decided that was acceptable and wandered over to sit down beside her mother. Zora began to tidy Zoe's hair.

"It's been a while since I've brushed your hair for you." Zora stated gently removing a tangle for Zoe's purple mane.

"Yeah." Zoe agreed relaxing as her mother's gentle administrations. It was quite relaxing she thought to herself as her mother continued brushing and combing.

"I've missed it." Zoe admitted after a short while.

"Me too." Zora said quietly. "I'm sorry about..."

"It's okay Mom." Zoe knew what was going to be said next and pre-empted her mother. "Really. I'm just glad you finally believe me. That and I'm no longer being watched all the time!"

Zora gently shook her head in amazement at Zoe. She too was glad about that.

Once they got back and through the talks with Soren and the other council members about what had occurred outside, Soren had lifted nearly all the restrictions on Zoe. Zora suspected it was a peace offering to the girl who had an incredibly powerful vampire that would obey any command Zoe asked of her.

She and Zora had been given a new room, the one Seras had once occupied incidentally. It was a nice room; at least it was once Seras had removed her oppressive presence from it that she had used to keep people out and from accidently discovering her true nature. They even had a window, once they pulled the boards down. They had a bed each in the room at opposite sides of the room, a shared wardrobe, Zora's desk with her computer and a few other odds and sods.

There were of course stipulations. Seras was still in quarantine, until such time as they were sure she was not contagious. Zora knew it was for other reasons, as Seras had been in the Acropolis for six years so far and no one else had caught in quotation marks, vampirism. She knew Seras also knew that was untrue, but the vampire kept quiet and remained inside the quarantine area without complaint, aside from the one off phasing through the window that Soren accidently saw.

Soren was unsure of what exactly to do with the vampire, that much was a given, especially as he had been dragging his feet over Seras' situation for the last months. No one aside from the council, Zoe and the two survivors from Priest's group knew about Seras' true nature, and anyone who had asked about why she was being held still was told she was being held under guard for taking Zoe outside without permission.

"Mom, do you know when sourface is going to let Seras out?" Zoe broke the peaceful silence.

"I...don't know Zoe." Zora answered slowly. "Professor Tallman and I are working on him to release her, but he's...cautious."

"Seras won't hurt anyone."

"I know." Zora agreed. "But the others are not convinced it's a good idea yet. Camden is undecided. Argento is taking Soren's stance of being careful...and, well you know Father Ammon's feelings already."

"Yeah." Zoe's face twisted in anger and she almost snarled. She really, really hated that old man now after he blew up at her, calling her all kinds of names when he found she was back in the base and with Seras.

"I'm still surprised he hasn't tried to start a riot yet." Zora frowned. Father Ammon had been very vocal about destroying the monster. So far Soren had managed to keep the old man from revealing Seras' secrets to the populace. Zora hoped he knew the panic it might incite was keeping him quiet for now, though she doubted it. He was keeping quiet for reasons of his own. That worried her.

"Heh, it'll take more than a riot to hurt Seras." Zoe beamed proudly.

"That's kind of the problem Zoe."

"Why?"

"Because she's so powerful and there's so few of us. We all need to work together to survive against the millions of zombies outside these walls. It's down to every man and woman here all working together we've survived this long. If word of Seras' condition is leaked, especially the way I know Father Ammon would talk about her, it could cause panic or widespread distrust effectively splitting our community apart. That would be a disaster any way you look at it. The way the base runs would be disrupted and who knows how that might end."

"So you think people will be scared of her?" Zoe asked. She frowned slightly thinking over what her mother had just revealed.

"I know people will be scared of her. Hell, even I'm intimidated remembering what she did outside. And I know she won't hurt us." Zora admitted.

"It's not right..." Zoe mumbled looking down at the slightly worn rug in the room's centre.

"You're right. That's why we have been working with Seras to discovery everything we can about her condition. If we can convince people that Seras is a powerful ally and not a monster out to kill or infect us, we stand a better chance of getting most to accept her as a defence for the base."

"Can't you just say she has to obey me? I'm her master right?"

Zora chuckled half-heartedly.

"Riiiight...and you know most people's opinions about you too Zoe. There was a bit of grumbling when it became common knowledge you were free to roam the base once more."

"Oh..." Zoe sighed before brightening. "That doesn't matter though! I'm going out to explore!"

"Zoe..." Zora sighed as her daughter leapt to her feet and her mood shifted from serious to mischievous in a flash. "Don't go messing around in the basement."

"I don't mess around Mom." Zoe grinned, a large cheesy grin.

"Why so fascinated with the basement? You must already know every cubbyhole and hiding place down there by now."

Zoe continued to grin.

"Zoe Olesia Elgin...what are you up to?"

"Nuth'ing." Zoe's grin if possible got larger, squashing her eyes almost shut while she attempted to stand as innocently as possible, hands held behind her back.

"Zoe!"

"What makes you think I'm up to something?"

"You've got _that_ grin on your face."

"What grin?"

"The grin that Seras uses all the time, when she wants to look cute as she rips steel apart with her bare hands or disobeys the rules of physics."

"I'm not going to cause trouble or anything." Zoe assured.

"Zoe..." Zora began to speak but her wrist communicator beeped interrupting her.

"Doctor Elgin. Would you please come to the meeting room." Soren's commanding voice came over the communicator's speaker.

"Seeyamombye!" Zoe said running out the room. She seemed to move so fast that Zora could almost believe she heard the sound of rushing air filling the spot Zoe had just vanished from. With a shake of her head she held the reply button down.

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

_Now what was this going to be about?_ She wondered.

xx X xx

Zoe raced through the cold corridors, heading towards one of the stairwells that led down into the darkened depths of the basement area. There weren't many people around, most preferring to stay in their warmer rooms than wander the chilly corridors. But a couple of few she did see, and had to dodge around, sent her annoyed glances.

Zoe paid no attention, choosing to follow Seras' advice to not give them any more ammunition to use against her in future times. It would take time to change opinions, but someday they would be glad to have her, and her servant's protection from the horrors outside.

She slowed to a walk as the guards outside quarantine came into view. Zoe grinned mischievously at seeing them.

Sauntering up to the guards, Zoe waved and then gave them a cheeky salute that seemed to say, I know something you don't, before she continued on past without another word. The pair gave each other a confused look, as Zoe would usually bother them about being let inside to see Seras, even though she knew she was only allowed in with her mother watching over her, Soren's orders.

"Heya Zoe!" a girl's voice called out from further up the corridor, drawing the pair of guard's attention to the new arrival who had just wandered around the corner.

The girl appeared to be the same age as Zoe, standing about the same height as the aforementioned girl. She was dressed in perfectly fitting pair of heavy looking boots, tall white socks, grey coloured shorts and a matching short-sleeve shirt top with pockets on the breast and a red ribbon bow around the collar. Her blonde hair had a slightly out of control look about it, the fringe curving downwards in spiky layers and would cover her eyes if she looked down, and at the rear, it defied gravity to point up and outwards. Blue eyes sparkled mischievously as she waved.

"Vicky!" Zoe grinned as she ran over to greet the new girl, where upon they huddled together and began whispering and giggling, while sending glances over their shoulders at the watching guards.

The guard closest to the pair was frowning at them. He had the feeling he knew that girl, but could not figure out where or when he'd seen her around the base. His chain of thought was interrupted as the pair giggled loudly before waving at them once and then rushing off and around the corner hand in hand, the blonde one leading. He shook his head once before returning to his duties, the girls forgotten about.

Zoe was still giggling as "Vicky" led her on a zigzagging sprint through the corridors, somehow avoiding bumping into any other people that were out and about during the mid-morning. After many more twists and turns, they slowed down and stopped before a large door with a rectangular shaped, wire mesh reinforced glass panel in two positions, top and bottom, of the right-hand side.

"That...was...funny!" Zoe stated between large gulps of air. She was slightly winded from the full-on sprint she'd been led on and bent down to rest with her hands on her knees.

"Also a little close for my liking, he almost recognised me." Seras stated as she stood on tiptoe to tap in the access code to the stairwell door. "But yeah, it was amusing."

With a beep, the small screen displayed the words "access granted" and the lock clicked. Seras then pushed the door open and stepped through followed soon after by Zoe. They let the door swing shut behind them and relock.

"Is it safe?" Zoe asked.

"Not yet, there's cameras here. Security watch the stairwells, but once we're in the basement there's none." Seras turned and grinned.

"Right...Vicky." Zoe returned the grin using the codename they had settled on for Seras' disguise. No one but the two of them knew Seras was actually wandering the Acropolis from the very first night since she'd been quarantined.

Zoe took the lead this time. She quickly moved down the stairs, sometimes two at a time in her hurry to reach the unwatched areas of the base. Seras followed behind her, amusedly watching.

_I doubt your enthusiasm will be so strong after this session Zoe_, Seras thought sadly to herself, knowing what she was planning to teach the girl.

They soon hit the bottom of the stairwell and once again Seras tapped in a code to open the door. The corridor they now found themselves in was lit with little more than an emergency light, bathing the area in a dull red glow.

"Do you know the code for every door here?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Most of them, yeah." Seras replied while she extended her senses to make sure they were alone. "I got bored and decided to read the codes from people's minds so I wouldn't have to worry about being caught on camera walking through walls."

"Neat. So where're we going?"

"Further down, into the collapsed areas."

"Really? What's down there?"

"I found a bunker-like section that's still untouched on my explorations of the base's defences earlier. It's about half a football field in size and structurally sound. Perfect for shooting stuff." Seras added with an excited grin.

"Cool! Lead the way."

"No need." Seras smirked. "Humans can't get there, the way in and out is blocked by the cave-in."

"What? Then why'd you say that's where we're going?" Zoe asked confusion written on her face as she watched Seras.

"Also, the air down there had gone bad, being sealed for so long."

"Then what's the point to getting me all excited?" Zoe asked testily, feeling betrayed.

"Cause I thought it would be funny to wind you up Master." Seras deadpanned.

"Why you!" Zoe growled.

"Kidding!" Seras chuckled waving her hands. "It's okay. I've dug a few small holes up to the surface using my abilities so you can breathe down there. I've been waiting for the air to clear before mentioning the place."

"Oh." Zoe began regaining some of her enthusiasm, but remained wary. "Do we have to climb down a hole then?"

Seras' grin spread slowly across her face, revealing her fangs and her eyes twinkled evilly as they turned crimson once more. It was a grin that meant trouble and did not fill Zoe with confidence.

"We're going by the vampire teleportation system!" Seras stated raising her arm to point a finger upwards in a dramatic pose.

"Errrm, what is that?"

"I'll show you." Seras smirked reaching out to take Zoe by her upper arm. "Now, first things first. This'll only take a second or so but I doubt it'll be pleasant for you."

"W...why's that?"

"Weeeeeeell...we're going for a quick jaunt through the shadows and back out at our destination. Now it'll be pitch black, so black you won't see anything and cold. Really, really cold. Also you'll need to hold your breath as I don't think there's any air there. On the plus side it'll only take a second!"

"Maybe it's not such a good idea..." Zoe said nervously.

"Don't worry Master." Seras grinned as unseen by Zoe her shadow stretched out to form underneath the purple haired girl. "Shut your eyes and hold your breath." Seras warned suddenly serious.

"Wait a min...urk!"

Zoe had a moment to register those words before she felt the ground below her vanish and everything went dark as she was sucked into a void of nothingness. She felt as if she was falling in every direction at once, neither knowing up or down, leaving her feeling completely disorientated. As Seras warned, a bitter cold attacked her from every direction...and then.

"You okay?" Seras asked as Zoe's senses came back to her.

She blinked in surprise before glancing around. This sudden movement caused her to sway woozily as her sense of balance had been thrown out of whack by the trip. In turn, the swaying made her feel nauseous and unsteady, even as Seras gently held her close so she wouldn't fall.

"I feel sick...and cold..." Zoe stated as her teeth began chattering. She wrapped her arms around her body in an attempt to preserve body warmth.

"Hmmm." Seras began checking Zoe to make sure she would be fine. "Sorry. I went as fast as I could. I didn't think it'd catch you so badly."

"Didn't I tell you boss, I don't think the living should be transported that way." A French accent spoke from behind them.

"Okay, okay. You were right, Pip." Seras agreed turning to her one-eyed mercenary familiar who stood casually behind them, swinging the end of his long braided hair around in a circle and grinning.

"And you know what that means mignonette?" Pip's grin seemed to increase. "You own me a kiss!"

"Yeah right." Seras snorted. "You bet she'd puke and she didn't so nahnah!" The vampire stuck her tongue out acting like the child she currently appeared.

"Pip?" Zoe asked brightening a bit. "Wait...if he's here who's in quarantine?"

"I left Mister Ggothua to take care of pretending to be me." Seras stated letting go of Zoe as the girl had seemed to be fine now.

Zoe's eyes widened and she swallowed at the former Xar's name.

"Is...is that safe?"

"It's safer for me..." Seras sent a glare Pip's way. "Last time I left Pip in charge he tired seducing Tallman's assistant, in my shape I might add! God I was so embarrassed to find that out!"

"And I almost succeeded too." Pip sighed dreamily. "If only I could figure out that vampire sexbeam trick."

"Sexbeam?" Zoe asked blinking before leaning in closer curiosity piqued. "What's that?"

"It's nothing." Seras told her and sent another glare Pip's way. This one said, _you bastard, I'm gonna kill you later._

"No really! I want to know!"

Seras grumbled something unintelligible under her breath before addressing Zoe. "He means how I can hypnotise people, nothing more, nothing less."

"Sound more than just hypnotism." Zoe grinned as she sensed Seras' discomfort.

"Drop it." Seras growled as Pip chuckled.

"Soooo..." Zoe changed subject but resolved to uncover the truth later. "What are we doing exactly?"

"Right!" Seras clapped her hands together glad for a change of subject. "Today we're going to start on your training. You need to be able to defend yourself if I'm not around."

Zoe glanced around the large open area. It was concrete for as far as she could make out with structural steel bracing every few yards apart, holding the roof up. The lighting was coming from portable spotlights and she could see the jury-rigged cables leading away from many of them towards a large square lump by the nearest wall to them. She guessed that was a powercell of some sort. Nearby lay piles of something covered in tarpaulin coverings. What looked like padded mats lay further to the side still.

"Master! Pay attention please." Seras stated loudly.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, we're going to teach you how to fight and defend yourself."

"Cool."

"You won't say that once we start." Seras stated ominously. "I'm going to teach you self-defence..."

"And I'm teaching you guns and tactics. Seeing as Seras' idea of shooting involves blowing up the target, the hostages and their vehicle in one shot with a gun that should be mounted on a tank and her tactics are wading in to tear things limb from limb." Pip butted in.

"Hey! It works doesn't it!"

"You see...no finesse at all." Pip indicated towards Seras.

"Feh, who needs finesse when you have a biiiiiig gun!"

"Uh huh, and Peu Maîtresse here can't fire a big gun." Pip indicated. "She's too small to use a powerful weapon yet. So she needs to learn finesse."

"Yeah, yeah." Seras rolled her eyes. "As long as she can defend herself that's all that matters for now. Okay Master, Pip'll show you the basics. Then we'll move onto actually having a target to shoot."

"Know anything about guns?" Pip asked turning his attention fully to Zoe. Seras moved towards the piles towards the rear of the area and began rummaging around.

"A little." Zoe admitted. "We've started learning about the weapons the base use to stop zombies."

"Fired any?"

"Well...we do have this game thing with a plastic gun..."

"Forget anything to do with that game gun!" Pip grinned interrupting her. "Cause real ones ain't like that. Pass that gun Mignonette."

Said gun was tossed through the air with speed and caught Pip on the side of his head, knocking him to the ground from the impact.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he sat up rubbing at his skull while Zoe giggled. "You did that on purpose." He complained picking the small handgun off the ground where it had landed and inspecting it for damage.

"Did what?" Seras asked innocently.

"Perhaps I should tell her all about the se..."

"And perhaps I should just send you back and teach her myself." Seras glared while grinning evilly.

"Ahhh, you win boss." The former mercenary picked himself off the ground and after checking the weapon over and popping open the cylinder to check it was unloaded he handed it to Zoe, passing it by the barrel.

"Here you go. Take a moment to feel the weight and shape."

Zoe took the small revolver and examined it curiously. It was just under seven inches in total length, a gun metal blue body and a wooden grip. The barrel was less than two inches and the gun weighed somewhere in the region of one and a bit pounds.

"Why does everyone look down the barrel when they get a gun for the first time?" Pip stated when Zoe did just that. "Good thing that wasn't loaded eh Peu Maîtresse?"

"Sorry." Zoe apologised sheepishly.

"First rule. Treat every firearm as if it were loaded. So, never look down the barrel."

"Second. Don't point the muzzle at anything you are not willing to see destroyed."

"Third. Be sure of your target and know what lies behind it."

"Fourth. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are aligned on target."

"I didn't see Seras do that when she was firing her guns." Zoe pointed out.

"Seras is a vampire. If she blows her foot off accidentally she can just reattach or regrow it. You can't." Pip told her. "Now hold it in both hands and point it down towards the far end of the room."

"Like this?" Zoe asked.

"No." Pip moved over and began correcting Zoe's stance. "Hold your arms like that and look down the sights." He carefully tapped her legs. "Put that one slightly forward."

They spent another minute or so with Pip continually adjusting Zoe's stance until he was satisfied she was stood correctly.

"Okay. Remember that, then relax a moment." He told her. "I'm going to get you some ammo and show you how to load it. I want you to practice getting in and out of that stance."

"Kay."

Pip walked over to Seras, who handed him a box, some safety glasses and a small set of ear protectors. They watched Zoe practice for a while, sometimes offering corrections until Pip was happy enough for the moment and wandered back over.

"Okay, I think we can move onto the next bit." He said approaching Zoe. "The gun we picked out has a double action trigger, which means you can fire it in one pull it you want. Downside is it's a heavy trigger with more travel. Now you're going to pull the trigger a few times to get a feel for it. Get into the shooting stance first, then pull the trigger as many times as you like until you're used to the feel."

Zoe complied with the instructions and began practice firing the gun. Pip watched her while listening to the click of the hammer hitting and empty chamber.

"How's that feel?"

"It's kinda stiff." Zoe answered.

"That's to be expected. Here, put these on." He held out her the glasses. "And give me the gun for a moment."

Zoe passed the gun back to Pip and he handed her the safety glasses which she then put on. Pip then handed her the ear protectors.

"Put em round your neck for now while I show you how to load it." He said showing Zoe how to open and close the cylinder. He then handed the gun back. Zoe then spent the next minute opening and closing the cylinder

"Okay." Pip stated just as Zoe opened the cylinder again. "We'll load it now."

Pip opened the box of bullets he was carrying and took one out and examined it, before handed it to Zoe. "The flat end wants to be facing you when you load it."

"Right." Zoe carefully slotted the bullet into the first chamber. Pip then handed her another bullet. This was repeated another three more times.

"Now close the cylinder, _but keep_ your finger away from the trigger. We don't want you firing it prematurely."

With a metallic click, Zoe shut the cylinder and glanced up at Pip for the next instruction.

"Now we need a target. Seras?"

"On it!" Seras called back.

Zoe glanced back at Seras for a moment, curious as to what she would be shooting at and hopefully hitting.

"Eyes front Peu Maîtresse." Pip told her as a shadowy shape grew up from the floor. It rippled constantly like jelly until suddenly it solidified into what appeared to be a zombie, twenty feet away from Zoe. The target zombie stood completely still.

"Wow. It looks so real." Zoe stated in surprise.

"That's because it is." Seras said as she approached. "It's one of mine."

"Will it hurt if I shoot it?" Zoe asked.

"No more than getting shot does to me." Seras chuckled.

"Now, to take a zombie down fast you need a headshot, otherwise you can be on for hours shooting bits and pieces of them off and they don't die." Pip began explaining. "To take a ghoul down, which this is, you need either a headshot or a shot to the heart. For today we'll settle for you just hitting it."

"I'll put your ear protectors on for you." Seras told Zoe as she moved them from around the girl's neck to cover her ears. "There you go. Comfy?"

"No."

"Too bad." Seras grinned. "You're using them whether you like them or not."

"Okay, aim at the target. Breathe nice and steady while looking down the sights, and when you're ready, gently squeeze the trigger. Don't yank at it. And brace yourself for the recoil. The gun will try and jump out of your hands, so control it." Pip told Zoe, his voice slightly raised so she could hear it clearly even with the ear protectors.

Zoe began aiming the small revolver, trying to align the sights with the ghoul's head. She felt an excited thrill run through her and also felt nervous, unsure exactly what to expect once she pulled the trigger. Unconsciously she held her breath.

"Close one eye if you have to." Pip offered. "And remember to breathe."

Zoe shut one eye as advised and re-aimed.

"You're too tense Peu Maîtresse. Relax a little and take your time. Nobody's rushing you."

When she was certain the ghoul target was in her sights, Zoe began to pull on the trigger. With every fraction of an inch the trigger moved, the tenser she became with expectation. To Zoe, it seemed as if she had been pulling on the trigger for an age and she began to wonder if the gun was actually going to fire. Just as she was about to release the trigger and ask Pip what was wrong it went off.

The noise made was more a pop than a bang as the gun bucked in her hands. The sudden recoil took her by surprise and she almost dropped the weapon. There was an acrid stink of gunfire.

"Whoa." Zoe stated blinking in surprise at the phantom sensation of the impact in her limbs.

"Not bad." Seras snickered. "Dunno what you were aiming at though." She indicated the unharmed ghoul in the distance which was now holding up a white bit of card with a zero on it.

"Very funny. Not!" Zoe glared to which Seras poked her tongue out between her fangs.

"Pay her no attention. You've got as many practice shots as you need to hit it." Pip stated lighting up a cigarette and taking a draw. "Try again."

xx X xx

The fire crackled and danced randomly as flames were apt to do, as Amelia stared deeply into them without really seeing the dancing flames. The flickering orange light cast dancing shadows upon the peeling and yellowed wallpapered walls of the room she was in. The fire burned in a large marble hearth by the far wall, opposite the windows which she had covered by moving a large table from downstairs up.

Despite the fire, the room stayed cool, the bitter chill from outside hard to remove after so long without any heat in it, but it was enough for her surprise rescuer to keep moving and also, allowed her to lower the power usage of the blankets the child she carried was wrapped in. She had fed him with the meagre supplies she carried for the child.

Amelia was concerned over the amount she had left. She needed to find that human settlement for the child and soon. With barely any food left and the blanket's powercell draining steadily away she needed to hurry.

She had tried unsuccessfully to focus on the child, to try and keep her mind off of her lover and that mechanical monster that captured him. Its words still fresh in her mind. She still couldn't figure out what it could want to use them to fight against. It was strong enough to fight and take down Bodenolf, what could possibly be a danger to it?

Seeing the child was sleeping soundly for now, she took another glance out the corner of her eyes at Gallows, trying not to let him know she was watching the zombie.

He was sat across from her, facing towards the fire. His old, but well maintained rifle leaned easily against his shoulder, the butt resting on the floor. His hat was slightly lowered over his face, hiding his eye and his empty eye-socket in shadows. The flickering light from the fire, cast shadows and played across his emaciated and leathery skull, giving his already frightening visage an unearthly appearance, almost as if he were the devil himself staring across his domain.

He was sat completely motionless, the only time he moved was to either put more wood on the fire or light another one of his seemingly unending supply of rolled cigarettes. Amelia could see his lone eye was still fixed on her, unblinking as he watched her. Sat above the fireplace was the undead crow. It too watched her every move and like its master, was as still as a statue. If she had not seen it move with her own eyes, she'd have thought it was merely a stuffed animal trophy.

So far, neither had made any threatening moves, but she was still wary.

"Ah get tha feelin' ya'll concern'ed 'bout ol' Gallows still, missy vampire." Gallows suddenly spoke, his dry voice startlingly her as it had been unexpected. He'd barely spoken more than a couple of sentences since he had rescued her.

"You'll have to forgive me for any rudeness I may have accidentally caused towards yourself Mister Gallows." Amelia said smoothly. "I must say, you're appearance is most disconcerting."

"Ya don' say."

"Forgive me. That was rude of me." Amelia apologised quickly.

"Ah knows what ah looks like, an' ah ain't big on ceremony missy vampire." Gallows turned his head slowly to face her properly. "Gallows will do."

"My apologies Mist...I mean Gallows. It is still hard for me not to follow ingrained habits from when I was still...alive as such."

"Ya'll talk all smooth an' fancy like. Where ya from originally?" Gallows asked cocking his head curiously.

"I grew up in London during the height of the British Empire in 1850's."

"That'll make ya near two hundred years old than." If Gallows was surprised he made no indication of it.

"Ah, I suppose so." Amelia said looking a little embarrassed, possibly from giving away her age to a stranger.

"An' the other one with ya?"

"Bodenolf is older than I."

Gallows filed the other vampire's name away and the fact he was the eldest.

"What's with tha kid? I assume it ain't ya's." Gallows asked eyeballing the sleeping baby. The smell of the living child was overpowering, and it was only through him using the cigarette smoke to block the worst of it out that he had held the urge to devour it back.

"No he's not." Amelia shook her head, light blond hair flowing from the movement. "I made a promise to his mother to get him to safety."

"Ah." Gallows voice creaked like an ancient wooden door as he nodded in understanding.

"Speaking of which, there is supposed to be a human settlement in this area. Settlement A1. Would you by chance happen to know where it is Mister Gallows?"

"Ah knows of it."

"You do?" Amelia looked hopeful suddenly. "Can you take me there? I don't have anything valuable to give you in return..."

"Ah think ya do actually, missy." Gallows said, his voice sounding ominous. The light of the fire was reflected in his single eye, making it appear to glow in the dark as he leaned closer. "Ya have information. An' ol' Gallows is very interested in it."

"What sort of information are you interested in?" Amelia asked carefully, on guard at Gallows change in tone. She doubted he could actually hurt her. She could move faster than he could get his rifle into a firing position anyway.

"Oh, ah wants to learn more abouts ya vampires." Gallows remarked lightly. "An' why tha big ol' bug was chasing ya."

"And in exchange you'll take me to the settlement?"

"No can do missy." Gallows stated and watched the vampire narrow her yellow eyes dangerously. "With tha weather being as cold as it is, ah'll freeze if I'm out thar too long. And than thars ta humans auto defences that shoot anything undead approaching them. You nor ah could get close, unless ya wanted a face fulla lead."

"There has to be a way to contact them. Maybe if I find a radio and you take me close..."

"Thars a betta idea than that missy." Gallows stated. "Ah knows of some '_people_' who 'ave contact with tha humans. Ah've been awanting to meet them for awhiles now ena'ways."

xx X xx

Zoe took aim and a calming breath and then pulled the trigger. The gun went off, followed by another four times as she continued firing with a few seconds delay between each shot. Lowering the gun she pushed the safety glasses up to get a better view of the target.

"Not bad, you've got a good rhythm going." Pip congratulated.

"So how'd I do that time?" Zoe turned to Seras. The vampire was currently sat on a metal crate she had pulled up just behind Zoe. She still looked like a young teen of Zoe's age.

"The first scratched the left shoulder. The next two hit the chest. Your fourth actually hit the neck and the last one missed completely." Seras told her while she went about regenerating the damage to the target practice ghoul.

"I'm getting good now right? Four out of five is good."

"Not bad." Seras said. "If you were shooting at a human. Against an undead you suck."

"Wha?!"

"Hit a human in the chest and even if you miss anything vital, it hurts like hell, can incapacitate and they could bleed to death. Hit a zombie in the chest and it just stumbles back, at best gets knocked down." Seras lectured in her serious tone. "Against zombies you need to take out the head. So you suck at the moment."

"That's not fair! I hit it four times!" Zoe complained.

"Three, the scratch barely counts as a hit. If this were a real situation, you'd have just wasted five rounds that you can't afford to waste."

"Fine! I'll hit its head then!" Zoe growled as she opened the cylinder and allowed the empty casings to fall out and land on the ground with metallic tings. She reloaded the revolver and snapped the cylinder back in place, before taking aim again.

She shut one eye and lined up the sights, this time she was sure she was going to hit. No she was determined to hit its head and prove to Seras she could shoot. She pulled on the trigger.

The gun fired, the bullet shot forth, its aim true. The ghoul lurched to the side drunkenly as zombies were prone to do and the bullet whizzed by harmlessly.

"What!" Zoe exclaimed in disbelief before rounding on Seras angrily. "You made it move!"

"Your point?" Seras replied sounding bored.

"That's cheating!"

"Not in the slightest Master. In a real situation the zombies never stand still, they're always wobbling about and will randomly change directions. I'm proving to you how hard it is to kill one."

"I'd hit it if you hadn't..."

"Never take your eyes of your target." Seras calmly told Zoe while pointing.

"Huh?" Zoe glanced to the side and shrieked as cold, clammy zombie hands grabbed her arm. She was dragged to the ground by the weight of the ghoul as it stumbled forwards, sending to gun flying from her grip. The ghoul pinned her before rearing it head back and lunging at her throat. Zoe screamed and suddenly the ghoul collapsed into a shadowy black substance, dissolving before her eyes. The shadow pooled around under her before it slinked across the ground back to Seras and rejoined her.

Zoe lay on the ground staring up, her heart racing and she was breathing heavily from the shock of the attack. The colour had drained from her face.

"W...why...why'd you...do that to me?" the girl finally asked regaining enough composure to push herself up into a sitting position. She felt more than a little disturbed, upset and betrayed at what Seras had just done.

"Master...this isn't a game any longer." Seras said in a hard, cold tone as she approached the pale Zoe. "This is a war we're fighting, a war of survival. If you won't take this training seriously then I can't help you. Outside, you can't shout at the zombies about them being unfair when they won't stand still and let you shoot them dead. You can't waste your shots..." Seras tone turned gentler. "And I can't be there to rescue you all the time, Zoe. When we train it has to be serious and if you can't take it you should quit now, because it's only gonna get harder."

Zoe took a moment to collect her thoughts and let what Seras had said sink in. "You're going to make it harder?"

"What you just experienced is nothing to what I'll put you through if you continue with this training. In fact you may come to hate me for it, but you'll be the best combatant I can possibly make you." Seras held her hand out to help Zoe up. "Take my hand, and..."

For a moment Zoe stared at Seras' offered hand before she slapped it away and climbed to her feet by herself.

"You can quit with the tests. I won't be scared off that easily Seras." Zoe folded her arms and stuck her chin out defiantly. Seras grinned and chuckled at that.

"Excellent. Together we'll rule the universe as master and servant!"

Pip snorted in the background before bursting into big belly laughs. "Ohhhh god! Darth Seras! Faaar too corny! Bwhahaha!"

"Dammit Pip! You've ruined the mood!" Seras grumbled folding her arms and pouting.

"What's he mean by Darth Seras?" Zoe asked.

"If I ever find a copy in the ruins I'll show you." Seras told her before pausing for a moment; a curious look appearing on her face as she glanced upwards.

"Well, that's interesting." Pip stated also looking up.

"What? What's going on!" Zoe glanced between Seras and Pip, wanting to know what the big secret was.

"I've just been informed by Mister Ggothua that I'm being escorted out of quarantine." Seras returned her attention back to Zoe. "I wonder..."

"Hey! My mom got a message from sourface to go to the meeting room. Do you think they're letting you out finally?" Zoe bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet.

"Maybe..."

"Zoe Elgin! Where the devil are you?" Soren's strict tones suddenly came over her wrist communicator starling her. He sounded annoyed.

"Downstairs. Why?" Zoe replied after giving Seras a look to confirm whether she should say anything.

"Downstairs! You are _not_ in the basement! Your life signs aren't being reported back which means you've gotten out of the damn base...again! Get your butt back here now missy!"

"Keep your hair on...oh wait! You don't have any." Zoe sent back.

Soren began ranting about revoking privileges and lockdown was mentioned while Zoe tuned him out.

"Guess we should go see what he wants." Seras snickered walking up to Zoe and taking her hand. "Let's go!"

xx X xx

Soren was still ranting when Zoe and Seras appeared out of the shadows behind the chair he was sat in. Nobody else in the room saw them arrive, but they suddenly heard Soren ranting in stereo which drew confused glances. The confused glances changed to bewildered looks of disbelief as the occupants saw Zoe and another girl they didn't recognise right away standing by Soren.

Soren paused mid-rant as he felt the tension in the room shoot through the roof. From his position he could see the reactions of all the other occupants.

Zora had gone from sitting down to standing in a flash and was staring slack jawed towards him. To her left, Professor Tallman was furiously scribbling notes down and sending glances his way, her eyes sparkling with interest from behind her glasses.

Argento on her left was half out of his seat and half reaching for his sidearm in its holster, his face showed concern and confusion. To his left, Ggothua in Seras' form, who they believed to be Seras sat calmly in the chair and studied the human's reactions with a detached curiosity. Like Argento, the pair of guards, who stood to the rear and either side of Ggothua were reaching for their weapons.

Camden Marrow who had been trying to inch away from Ggothua ever since he had been brought in sat frozen and staring at the unexpected arrivals.

Soren slowly turned his head towards the spot where everyone seemed to be looking towards. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of Zoe grinning cheekily and waving at him.

"Hello!"

xx X xx

The first thing Bodenolf became aware of, as he slowly regained consciousness was the painful throbbing sensation throughout his entire body. Every limb and organ was filled with a deep throbbing ache, combined with a burning, itching sensation throughout his veins which sapped all of his strength and made even thinking sluggish.

His head throbbed and eyes stung worse than he had believed possible for one such as himself to feel. His mouth was dry, feeling as if it had been filled with cotton wool. His throat to, was desert dry. Worse still, the hunger, that constant ache, the craving for living blood was threatening to consume his rational mind.

_What's happened to me?_ Bodenolf managed the think, trying to force his brain back into action. _Where am I?_

He tried to prise open his eyes but they refused to cooperate, the lids sealed shut by dry, clotted blood, so he settled for using what other of his senses were still working.

He could feel the intense cold from the chill wind and also the bitter touch of windswept snow as it battered at his face, which meant he was still outside. His usual strong sense of smell gave nothing away, only the scent of chilled air and crisp snow.

His mind was slowly beginning to clear and Bodenolf became aware of being moved, or more precisely carried. His arms and legs hung loosely as he was transported to some unknown destination, hung over one large arm. His limp appendages felt unfamiliar and detached, as if they weren't his own. They would swing from side to side in time with the slight up and down gait of his captors' footsteps.

Over the howl of the wind, he heard the distinct crunch, thud, scrape of heavy metallic-like footsteps on snow. Along with the sound of footstep he heard the gurgling kuu hiss noise of the mechanical beast's breathing and felt the deep vibration through his body of the energy pulses.

The realisation that the creature that had been chasing them was carrying him to wherever it was heading was enough of a shock to the system to clear some of the sluggishness of thought from his mind. With the mental fog clearing, another thought brought a wave of panic with it.

"Amelia!" Bodenolf choked out, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper. Even speaking drew more pain from his dried throat, tearing at his vocal cords. Despite trying, his limbs did no more than twitch at his command.

The lurching came to a halt instantly the moment he spoke. A freezing cold set of claws, like three chef's knives, gripped his head and not so gently twisted it so his face was facing upwards. The creature held him in this position for what seemed an eternity, but was really only a few seconds before it released its hold of his head. Bodenolf, unable to hold his head up found himself once more hanging loosely over the creature's arm.

The sense of movement from its lumbering gait started up once more.

"Amelia?" Bodenolf asked, his voice growing stronger. He hoped against all hope that she had escaped.

"The female vampire creature, designation Amelia, evaded capture." A deep, powerful and emotionless gurgling voice answered surprising the weakened vampire.

"What? You...can talk?" Bodenolf asked stunned by the new revelation. It brought a new and more frightening aspect to the creature. It was not just some robotic assassin after all, but a creature with a cunning intelligence that had stalked them aggressively and relentlessly. It had some purpose, some motive for keeping him alive, that much he realised, especially since he had not suffered a final death yet.

The creature gave a strange gurgle and he imagined it was snorting at his apparent stupidity.

"What do you want? Why did you not destroy me?"

The creature stayed silent, the only sound emitted by it was the continued hiss of its breathing and thud of its heavy footsteps.

"Answer me damn it!" Bodenolf shouted, demanding to know why. His demand met more silence and he resigned himself to the fact he was powerless and at its mercy, for now at least. He could bide his time, recovery his strength and when it least expected it, escape. Or so he hoped.

Bodenolf did not know how long he was carried for when the lurching suddenly ceased. A dull whine began to be produced from somewhere on the creature's body. A vibration filled the air and Bodenolf felt his very bones vibrate in time with the gradually building pulse of energy.

"What are you doing?" he shouted over the throb.

He got no reply as suddenly the energy pulse seemed to exploded outwards passing through him and then with a sucking sensation that ran thorough every cell in his body he felt it retract. His sense of hearing, balance and even touch seemed to vanish for a few moments before flowing back rapidly.

"What...did...you do?"

The creature expelled a long hiss before beginning to move again. Bodenolf instantly recognised the sound of its footsteps had change. No longer was it walking on snow, no its feet were now thumping heavily against a concrete or stone floor of some sort. He realised the air here was suddenly warmer than it had been a second ago and there was no snow. He felt confused, what exactly just happened. It was like he had been transported somewhere instantly.

Sniffing the air curiously he became aware of a foul smell. It was the smell of old blood and other bodily fluids that had dried up long not long ago, and it was getting stronger. As the creature headed wherever it was taking him, he became aware of something else. There were faint groans and moans coming closer, some things were in pain.

The creature carrying him paused. There was a clank of metal on metal and a squeaking groan of unmaintained gears being cranked. What he assumed was a heavy door groaned as it was opened. The foul air rushed out and the groans became also mixed in with a few cries of terror.

The noise and smell made a knot of fear tighten in Bodenolf's stomach as the creature resumed its lurching gait. He was carried down a corridor, he knew it was a corridor by how the sound was bounced and amplified off the walls. He guessed the creature could only just fit through, making the corridor about eight foot wide and tall; it had been built for human travel.

Suddenly the creature stopped moving and Bodenolf found himself being roughly lifted before being dropped onto a cold metal surface. He tried to struggle free as the creature began to fasten his arms down with tough and slightly elastic straps, but it was no use. Whatever it had used on him had robbed all of his strength and soon he was bound tightly.

"What is this?" Bodenolf demanded. "What are you planning to do with me?"

"You will aid us in our battle." The creature finally spoke.

"Aid you? Are you mad?" Bodenolf shouted angrily. "I'd never aid you whatever the hell you are beast!"

"Your words are meaningless."

"You will aid us."

"The decision is not yours to make."

Bodenolf hissed as the creature moved away. A door he had not realised they had came through was suddenly closed with a heavy metal clang. The creature's breathing was now the only sound he could hear with the thick door being shut. There was a sudden hiss of gas and Bodenolf became aware of the temperature in the room slowly beginning to lower.

He had to know where he was. Gathering all his remaining strength the vampire forced open his eyes. His eyesight was blurred but it was enough to make out certain details. The roof was tiled in what were once white tiles, but where now dirty and not with just dust. Messy spots of long and not so long dried fluids stained them. The roof had two fluorescent tube lights, one flickered every few seconds.

He realised he was strapped down to a gurney and to either side of him were a multitude of vicious looking surgical instruments. These too were not clean, covered in stains.

The creature had its back to him, carefully arranging more of the sharp objects on a nearby bench. Bodenolf realised he was in a twisted version of an operating room, and with a fearful certainty he guessed what the creature was planning.

As he was watching the creature his eyes spotted something that chilled him worse than the thought of what it was going to do. The wall had two long red drapes hanging from a large golden eagle, and on the cloth was the Swastika. A symbol from the worst time in the history of his homeland.

"What is this?" Bodenolf gasped. "That symbol! What...who are you?"

The creature turned around slowly to study him.

"We are the Will of God."

"You're insane!"

"Negative."

"You can't be part of the Deutsches Reich!"

"Correct. We have no affiliation with them."

"What? Then...what is this place?"

"This is the undiscovered by the humans, staging area used by the Letztes Bataillon to launch their attack on the human city of London at the turn of the last millennium." The creature approached Bodenolf slowly.

"The one night war..." Bodenolf breathed, eyes widening in realisation. "You're...making freaks!"

"Affirmative."

"Why?" the vampire clenched his teeth in anger.

"Vampire creature, designation Seras Victoria, last remaining Hellsing Operative is an impediment to renewal."

"She resists termination."

"She must be eliminated."

"And with your true blood and the technology developed by the Letztes Bataillon we shall achieve that goal."

End Chapter

Sorry for the loooooooooong wait for this chapter. I'm finding it very hard to write more than a few paragraphs at a time at the moment. But it's finally here.

Now I don't know anything about guns so I hope Zoe's training wasn't too unrealistic.

Peu Maîtresse hopefully means Little Mistress.

With Bodenolf knowing about freaks, I'm going to use the excuse that the stories will have gotten out to other vampires about what the Letztes Bataillon had been up to during WWII and the London attack.

Chapter 2

If you said the tension in the council meeting room was thick enough to cut with a knife you'd be wrong, you would have needed a chainsaw to get through it; and in the epicentre of it all stood one teenager with purple hair smiling like the proverbial cat that had gotten the cream.

Soren stared at Zoe. Well, stared was maybe too mild a word for the look he sent her, glowered might be more appropriate. It was the look you might expect a grizzly bear to send you if you jumped on it while it was eating, right before it tore your head off.

"Exactly _how_ long have you been here?" Soren asked, each word said with the precision of someone counting to ten between each one.

"We just got here." Zoe stated glancing around unconcerned. "Hi Mom!" Zoe sent her mother a wave, which Zora returned unconsciously, before she nervously placed her hands behind her back when she realised she was waving.

Soren's eyes narrowed further as he looked towards Seras beside Zoe. "And who the devil is she?" he pointed.

"Her? Oh that's just Seras." Zoe indicated Seras with a thumb over her shoulder as she wandered past the lieutenant. She casually pulled a chair back and sat down, seemingly oblivious to the tension she was causing.

The two guards behind Ggothua shifted nervously, unsure what to do. Even Argento, a hardened veteran stood frozen, still half out of his seat. There was a nervous shuffling of papers as Soren developed a tick in one eye.

"Lieutenant." Seras greeted curtly.

It was easy to see Soren was doing his best not to lose his temper. His jaw clenched tightly shut, the muscles in his face straining underneath his skin, as if he were attempting to chew his own teeth. Everyone else who had been in the room before Zoe and Seras' arrival sat or stood nervously waiting for the inevitable explosion, aside from Professor Tallman who was still scribbling in her notepad. Occasionally she would look up and between Ggothua and Seras before going back to writing.

"Then who...THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT?" Soren roared slamming a fist onto the table making Camden "eep" and flinch in his seat. Soren leaned forward and pointed at Ggothua with his other hand.

"Hmm?" Seras glanced calmly over at Ggothua before replying. "That's my hands." She smiled at the inside joke. Ggothua cocked his head slightly. Zoe noticed the slight movement and got the bizarre feeling that the former Xar had puffed up with pride for some reason, as if he was proud of his position. She watched the former Xar wearing Seras' adult form carefully from the corner of her eyes as she still felt a certain nervousness towards it, after all it had tried to kill her seven years previously.

"Don't worry Master. He is as loyal to me as I am to you." Seras' voice reassured Zoe as it echoed around in her head unheard by anyone else.

"Your hands?" Soren repeated in disbelief. "How..."

"Fascinating." Professor Tallman interrupted. "You're saying you can spilt yourself into multiple parts and control them separately?" She pointed the rubber tipped end of the pencil she held towards Seras.

"Oh yes." Seras smiled cutely and shrugging her shoulders, which made her head lean to the left and her blond hair shifted along with the motion. "The separate parts of myself can operate completely independently from me if I have need."

"Amazing! What's your upper limit on the amount of bodies you can create?"

"Depends on how many sou..."

"Sonovabitch!" Soren slammed his hands down on the table startling a few people. After a moment he fell bonelessly back into his chair and slapped a hand over his eyes. "You've never been in quarantine have you." It was a statement.

"Well, I was at times." Seras stated.

Soren cracked his fingers apart to look at the vampire in defeat. "We can't stop you from doing what the hell you like can we?"

"Weeeeeeell..." Seras said holding a finger to her chin. "No!"

Soren let out a long drawn sigh, before he pulled himself back up in his chair. "At ease men." He told the guards. The pair of guards did as ordered, placed their weapons back into their holsters and relaxed. Argento sat back down, but his eyes never left Seras.

"You!" Soren pointed at Seras. "Take a seat and...pull yourself together or whatever it is you do."

"Yes sir!" She saluted with a smile before sending a telepathic signal for Ggothua to return to her.

Ggothua's form started to shimmer before all the colours faded to black, becoming a black roughly human shaped blob. Six red eyes opened in the blackness as if began flowing off the chair and onto the ground below.

The guards stepped away in surprise as the vampire they were to guard collapsed into a black blob of something and pooled onto the floor below the chair. It then slid smoothly across the floor, undulating all the time as it returned to its master.

Camden pulled his feet up onto his chair and hugged his knees while watching the shadowy form pass under him nervously. The eyes blinked at him curiously as it passed and Camden swallowed, not taking his own eyes off it.

Zora watched on curiously, but not with any concern. She had seen Seras using her body's shadowy shape shifting abilities before, but at the time she hadn't paid too much attention, what with being in the middle of a battlefield and all. This time however, she took interest in what Seras did while in her head she was trying to figure out what sort of metabolism was needed to do something like that with cellular structures. After all, she knew Seras still had a cell structure and it was easier to believe Seras was some kind of different form of life than a creature reanimated by some sort of supernatural power.

The blob pooled around Seras' feet before it was sucked up into them. Before their eyes Seras seemed to grow and mature, going from a young girl to young woman in less than three seconds until she was the Seras they were most familiar with. Even her clothing had morphed back into her uniform as she grew.

"That's soooo cool!" Zoe grinned. "No matter how many time I see it."

"Thank you. Thank you." Seras bowed. "And for my next trick I'll explode into a hundred and one bats!"

"I rather you just sat down!" Soren grumbled.

"Okay, okay." Seras smiled good-naturedly and moved over towards the big round table. "Keep your hair on."

"Hilarious." Soren mumbled watching her take a seat between Zoe and Camden. Seras turned to the nervous engineer and gave him a comforting smiled.

"Don't worry. I don't bite...much."

"If! You're quite done terrifying my staff..." Soren drummed his fingers on the table drawing everyone's attention. "We can get on with this meeting."

Soren eyed each person at the table as if daring them to try for anymore interruptions.

"Good. We'll begin again..." he stated resting his elbows on the tabletop and entwining his fingers. "After much deliberation, it has been decided to allow Seras Victoria, a...vampire, to be allowed out of quarantine."

"Woohoo!" Zoe cheered. "Finally..."

"Like we had a choice in the matter as we've just seen." Soren grumbled just loud enough to be heard and sent Zoe an annoyed glance. In a louder voice he continued. "The testing that the Professor and Dr. Elgin have been undertaking..."

Seras snickered.

"Excuse me?" Soren snapped.

"Sorry, it's just your choice of words." The vampire smirked.

"Funeral humour...hilarious." Soren deadpanned. "Continuing, the testing has so far proved that there appears to be no sign of Nekrosis infection in yourself and your 'condition' is not infectious towards us. Therefore the medical team have no qualms about allowing your release back into society."

"Thank you." Seras smiled genuinely. "Now I don't have to go behind your backs to look after Zoe."

"Your release does carry a few stipulations." Soren informed her, his tone serious. "One. You will be monitored and at times watched over by guards. Two. You will follow our rules, which are there for good reasons. Three. I may ask you to perform duties for us that would be dangerous for a living person or persons. In return, we will supply you with 'food' and shelter."

Soren leaned forward, his chin almost touching his intertwined fingers. "If you don't like this you can always leave. If you break these simple rules, by God help me I'll find a way to put you down."

Seras took a moment to stare into the lieutenant's dark eyes, seeking something. Hard brown eyes met crimson as he returned the stare unwaveringly and after a short tension filled moment, Seras relaxed and slowly smiled an honest smile.

"I shall do my best not to let your trust go to waste. Sir." she nodded respectfully.

"Good." Soren also relaxed and the tension in the room finally faded.

"Yes!" Zoe exclaimed pumping her arm.

"Welcome back, Seras." Zora smiled across the table at her friend.

"Thanks." Seras grinned happily.

"I can't wait till we get a greater understanding of your body and how it fights off the virus." Professor Tallman stated.

"Erm, yeah..."

"Moving on!" Soren stated loudly, bringing a respectful silence to the table as all eyes turned back to him. "You claim to have had military training, correct?"

"I went through standard training at the time for the police force, mainly hand-to-hand defence training and a small amount of small arms. I had nearly a year's experience before my death. Afterwards I worked for Hellsing, receiving military and heavy weaponry training due to my...capabilities. I am capable of firing small, large and heavy weaponry a human cannot, with one hundred percent accuracy, even at distances of a couple of miles. At night." Seras rattled off with no hint of boasting, she spoke in the manner that you would when describing the sky as blue.

"You'll accept that I'll want proof of this?" Soren stated, adding a couple of notes to his file on Seras.

"Of course."

"With your training and abilities, I feel it is a waste to have you working purely in medical and wish to assign you to Blue unit under Corporal Argento's command." Soren indicated Argento. Seras

glanced over at him and looked thoughtful for a moment before returning her eyes to Soren. "Your abilities would serve us better on excursions into the cold zones. What do you say?"

"That depends." Seras replied.

"On?" Soren narrowed his eyes.

"Whether my Master agrees to this." Seras calmly pointed at Zoe. The girl blinked in surprise as all eyes turned to her.

"Me?" Zoe indicated herself nervously under the gaze of the council members.

"Her? But she's just a kid." Soren stated in disbelief at the bizarre situation.

"Zoe Olesia Elgin is my Master. I obey her orders, and only hers." Seras told the room, her face neutral as she laid before them the situation. "She has the final say in what I do. If she finds this proposal acceptable then so shall I."

"You're kidding right?"

"Not at all lieutenant. I'm dead serious." Seras levelled her eyes at Soren.

"You're saying you won't do anything for us unless she gives the order?" Soren growled. "...for crying..." His face went through a few different expressions as he chewed Seras' conditions over in his head. He slowly came to a conclusion; he could see the vampire was trying to push him down a path he didn't want to go. Narrowing his eyes again and drawing a calming breath he addressed her. "Blue unit's missions are often kept secret to prevent undue panic...I can't let a civilian who isn't on the council have access to that sort of information."

Seras smirked a little, the corners of her mouth turning up just enough to show. "That's easy for you to solve."

"You're asking too much. I can't allow such an enormous breach of protocol...and she is only a kid."

"So?" Seras remarked offhandedly. "She has faced monsters in her short time, whether they be human, undead or...otherwise and not only survived but came out on top. She would not have control of a vampire like me if she weren't worthy of the power and responsibility that implies. In the end lieutenant, if you desire my help you must go through my Master."

The eyes that lay upon Seras moved to Soren as she finished speaking. The military leader rubbed his well trimmed beard in thought. Finally he spoke.

"I don't like this...you better be worth it..." Soren said to himself. Addressing the rest of the council he asked. "Does anyone feel it unwise to allow, Zoe Elgin, to join the council in regards to allowing her...vampire servant...to perform missions that may be critical for our continued survival?"

"For six years we didn't trust Zoe...and yet all that time she was speaking the truth." Zora was the first to speak. "And for that...I think she deserves a chance at this."

"I have no problems with it, as long as she lets me run the tests I want on Seras." Tallman smiled at Zoe.

"I suggest a temporary trial period." Argento spoke. "If they both prove dependable, then we place ourselves in a stronger defensive position against the zombies."

"Mr. Marrow?" Soren asked after Camden didn't say anything right away.

"Errm, well..." Camden eyed Seras cautiously. "I...don't see the harm in a trial period..."

"And we all can guess what Father Ammon would say..." Soren sighed running a hand over his shaven head.

"Speaking of the 'good father'..." Seras spoke up. "Why isn't he here?"

Soren mumbled something and it was Zora who answered. "Father Ammon refuses to be involved in anything concerning you..."

"Now there's a surprise." Seras deadpanned.

"I guess then this makes it four in favour and one against..." Soren turned to stare at Zoe. "Well, Ms. Elgin...do you accept a temporary position on the council until such time the pair of you prove your worth or lack of it?"

Zoe leaned back and glanced at the assembled faces. Soren gave her a hard stare. She looked at her mother who gave a barely perceptible nod and smile. The professor gave her a comforting wink. Argento looked on coolly and professionally, not giving his feelings away one way or another. Camden was nervously thrumming his fingers on the table top and didn't meet her gaze. Seras gave her a fanged grin that Zoe recognised as her 'testing grin'. She was waiting to see her reaction.

"Okay then...I accept." Zoe calmly told Soren. "If you want Seras to do something ask me."

Soren nodded. "Very well. I welcome you temporary to the council. This is a huge responsibility and a tremendous gamble we're taking with you...both of you. Our continued survival depends on all of us, and the choices we make...I expect the same level of profession conduct from you as any of us at this table...what we discuss in this room does not leave it. Understood?"

"Yeah...I mean, yes sir." Zoe replied.

"Prove yourself and we'll make it permanent." Soren said. "Now, back to assigning Seras to Blue unit; will you allow it?" Soren found himself unable to believe he was asking a thirteen year old to borrow her vampire, and a glance at Seras, who sent him a fanged grin back, confirmed this was something she had been aiming for from the beginning. He resolved to keep a close eye on Zoe in case the vampire was influencing the girl, a precaution. Despite everything, he still had concerns about Seras.

"Your orders Master?" Seras asked when Zoe looked at her. She took a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking.

"My orders are...I'm assigning you to Blue unit. Follow Arge..." at seeing Soren's disproving look she corrected herself. "Corporal Argento's...orders as if they were mine while working with him."

"As you command, my master." Seras grinned, her fangs popping out over her bottom lips as she bowed as deep as she could in the chair she sat on.

"Now that that's sorted..." Soren sighed in relief while Seras straightened back up in her seat. "We'll move onto the rest of the meeting. You will be assigned to the living quarters that Dr. Elgin and Zoe share to hide suspicions of what you are and allow you to protect your...master...as you claim. We _will_ be keeping a close eye on their health, just in case."

Seras nodded in understanding at the unsaid threat.

"While you're not working with Blue unit you will be allowed back to your previous job in medical under the supervision of Dr. Elgin as your first-aid skills have been proven in the last six years, if that is fine with Ms. Elgin." Soren looked at Zoe who nodded.

"Sure."

"While you're at work the guards in medical will be the ones who know of your condition. This also allows the professor to work with you on her research into the virus. Which brings us to the research conducted upon you so far by medical. Professor if you would?"

"Yes lieutenant." Tallman nodded excitedly and tapped the table top brining up a holographic keyboard for her usage in front of her. "I'll start with Seras' physical structures."

The lights dimmed down and the holographic display in the centre of the table sprung to life bathing the room in a green glow. A three dimensional image of Seras flickered into being and slowly rotated.

"At first glance she appears physically a normal human. There is no indication she is not alive in the sense that we understand. No external signs of decay and aside from her slightly pale skin and eye colour, which is variable between blue and red. Even the pale skin and red eyes could be passed off as albinism."

The image then changed, morphing into an x-ray style image but still in three dimensions.

"Going to a deeper scan shows her skeletal-muscular structure is that of a normal human, aside from enlarged canines, indicating her predatory nature. Again so far nothing is too abnormal."

The image zoomed right in now showing an enlarged view of blood cells.

"Now this is where the differences begin to appear. You will notice the cells are completely stable. No movement, no respiration going on. No cell death. At the cellular level her body is spookily quiet. Again zooming deeper to her DNA structures there is nothing occurring, it's like her entire body is frozen in time and yet she can move, reason and react far faster than we can. My theory is that she has some kind of force that is undetectable to our equipment allowing her to do what she does. I just haven't found what it is yet."

"It's magic." Seras chuckled.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Professor Tallman quoted with a smile. "Give me enough time and I'll figure it out."

"I'd rather you didn't." Seras sighed. "Some very bad people figured it out once...it led to the one night war and the destruction of millions of lives, including those close to me. I'll say again, it's a very bad idea and I'm only going along with this testing to help you guys survive. If you begin going down the same path...I _will_ stop you."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room at Seras' quiet warning. Maybe it was mention of that massive loss of life in the past that made the room fall silent, or maybe it was the way Seras had spoken, her voice full of regret and an undercurrent of venom, or most likely the threat.

"I...take it that, the one night war was not a terrorist attack as claimed in the history books." Soren theorised glancing at Seras.

"No." Seras' reply was terse, giving the distinct impression that she did not want to elaborate further.

"Still..." the professor began speaking once again. "If we could understand how your body resists the effects of Nekrosis it may lead to a way to combat the virus." She tapped a few keys quickly and the view zoomed back out to the cellular level. "This is once again showing Seras' blood structure. Again note the unnatural stillness. Now watch what happens when we introduce Nekrosis."

With another click movement began as the familiar to all in the room enlarged view of the Nekrosis virus entered the scene and began floating around, moving with quick flicks of its many vicious looking prongs. It seemed to move with purpose, quickly homing in on the floating blood cells and taking hold.

"No matter how many times I see that it sends shivers down my spine." Zora commented. "The way those things just move...it's unnatural."

"As you can see, the virus attempts to hitch a ride on the blood cells where they usually deposit themselves in the brain and nervous system. As you know a living body in unaffected by this, people can live out their lives completely unaware they're carrying the virus. However once a person dies that all changes, it seizes control of the body's functions, somehow using the dead nervous system to reanimate the corpse."

"This process occurs every time without fail. Even long deceased bodies can be hijacked, for want of a better word by Nekrosis. In theory, with Seras' body having ceased functioning she should be affected in the same way, but in her case her body fights back."

The view now showed a sped up version of Seras' blood destroying the virus.

"At first the virus is caught off guard and is quickly attacked and destroyed. But after a short while it seems to become scarily coordinated and fights back violently. Seras' blood then fights back even more violently until the virus is purged. And this, is the remains of Nekrosis once Seras' body has dealt with it."

The professor lifted up a jar from under the table and placed it where everyone could see. The clear jar was filled with a thick black sludge.

"Is...is that stuff dangerous?" Soren asked having not known Tallman was going to pull out a jar filled with a dead virus that had gone through a vampire.

"Not at all, aside from the smell, it's really quite pungent. Would you like to have a sniff?"

"Not a chance." Soren replied looking disgusted.

"You're the only person I know who keeps samples of vomit as a hobby." Seras remarked eying the jar's contents in remembered agony of the induced Nekrosis testing. She hated the feeling of Nekrosis inside her, even worse now she knew what it was.

"That's...sick." Zoe commented. "I mean really."

"As you all should know already, the Nekrosis virus has proven immune to all known methods of dealing with viruses and all attempts to figure out its genetic structures have failed. And here we have Seras whose blood kills it in minutes to hours depending on the concentration. If we figure out how her blood does that we may have a cure."

"Using my blood isn't the cure." Seras once again stated.

"Maybe, but this is the first time we've seen anything that affects the virus." Professor Tallman argued. "It's immunity to anti-viral treatment is frustrating. Your blood could be the basis for a cure."

Seras levelled her eyes with Tallman before she replied.

"The reason it's immune to all methods of destroying viruses is because...it's not a virus at all."

"Excuse me?" the red-haired professor asked adjusting her glasses.

"It's not a virus." Seras repeated.

Glances were exchanged around the table between the adults. Zoe looked over at Seras, a curious frown on her own face and a suspicion of what Seras was going to say next in her mind. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Seras," Zora broke the silence first. "We've studied it for years now and it functions like a virus."

"Dr. Elgin's correct." Tallman agreed. "Nekrosis had long been classified as a virus. A very infectious one."

"Zora said it right. It only functions like a virus. It's not." Seras replied.

Another round of confused glances went around the table.

"If...it isn't a virus, then what is it?" Soren asked slowly.

"What you call Nekrosis is just a tiny fragment of the whole." Seras related with utter seriousness. "Each little piece are all joined together to form a kind of distributed intelligence. A hive mind. It lays

in wait like an opportunistic parasite, for a chance to take control of a body and use it to further their goal."

"Wait...are you saying this virus is controlled by some kind of A.I.? Isn't that a little far-fetched?" Soren asked.

"Not an A.I." Seras turned to face him. "It's an extremely large, extremely ugly, sentient creature."

"You're kidding..."

"Its part of them isn't." Zoe stated with a nervous swallow, interrupting the lieutenant. "Those Xar right?"

"No. No. No." Soren held a hand over his eyes while shaking his head. "This is too much. First intelligent zombies, vampires and now what? Aliens in power armour controlling a plague? Do you have any idea how crazy this all sounds?"

"Are you certain about this Seras?" Tallman asked. "We only have your word that these creatures exist."

"They do." Zora spoke up drawing all eyes to her. "I did see them...and the weaponry they had...they're real."

"They are real. Really, really ugly too." Zoe shuddered.

"Dirge and Nephthys can also confirm they exist." Seras told them.

"I'd rather not ask...them." Soren mumbled under his breath. A vampire was bad enough, but zombies that could think? Louder. "If...what you say is true...why haven't they wiped us out with their superior weapons by now? Why bother using a virus to do their dirty work? And how the hell do you know this?"

"When I managed to accidently invade their mind they severed the one I use to gain access from them. I was unprepared for what I stumbled upon and only managed to get fragments of information. Bits and pieces that made little sense until recently, after I managed to crack the one I ate...unfortunately when he was severed, he lost access to a huge chunk of memories as they're stored among multiple bodies. I don't know the full story behind them, I don't know their true goal aside from the fact they want you, me and all life on the planet destroyed."

"As to why use these, I guess spores? I suspect that despite their formidable size, intellect and weaponry, they don't have the resources to attack head on. Or maybe they're afraid of something..." She glanced sideways at Zoe. "Instead they choose to create weapons out of the dead, zombies, and puppeteer them from behind the scenes."

"Sweet zombie Jesus..." Soren groaned. "Are you serious?"

"What you're suggesting is...extremely worrisome." Tallman said with a frown, her face bathed in the green glow of the holographic projection.

"I know." Seras confirmed. "They seem to have labelled me as a rather large threat to their plans. Most likely it scared them to find out something like me exists and can gain access to their mind. Their last attempt had a suspicious timing to it as well...how did they know I was weakened? And most worrying, they seemed to have researched my weaknesses. I believe we have a Judas among us."

"A Judas?" Soren asked confused.

"I...think she means...like in the bible." Camden spoke up. "I.e. Judas betrayed Christ."

"Camden is right." Seras confirmed.

"You think someone has betrayed us? Is working with these...things?" Soren frowned. If all of Seras' speculations were true, that person could be held responsible for the greatest genocide ever in the history of humanity. Why would someone help these things wipe out humanity? What was in it for them?

"I'm ninety nine percent sure someone is working with them."

"Who?" Soren asked as the rest of the room shuffled nervously, disturbed by the conversation.

"I don't have proof...not yet...but when I do...that person, or persons, will wish they had never been born." Seras growled in such an evil tone that Soren felt a shiver pass down his spine and for the first time he sensed Seras' true nature...and it frightened him.

xx X xx

"Shuuushh. It's okay..." Amelia gently rocked the bawling babe in her arms as he continued to cry. He had begun crying over ten minutes ago and still did not appear to be winding down soon.

"Can't ya shut that thing up?" Gallows asked suddenly. The variant turned his lone eye to glare at the child. Gallows moved away from the window where he had been looking outside, through the gap between the upturned table and judging whether he could risk taking the vampire to where she wanted. The sun was still hidden behind thick clouds, keeping the temperature below freezing, which made it impossible for him to leave the relative warmth of the building. Though, if the brat kept up its squawking then he'd either shoot the damned thing or risk the cold.

"He's hungry." Amelia told the zombie while keeping a gentle rocking motion going.

"Than why dontcha feed it?"

"I have...but there's not enough food left for him. I've had to ration it already and it's really not enough to fill him." Amelia sighed. Glancing up at Gallows she asked. "Can you not take me to these people now? Time is running out."

"Aye told ya, ah can't. It too cold out thar."

Amelia frowned before glancing down at the bawling child, his face pink with exertion and twisted in unhappiness at his almost empty belly. She had to do something and soon.

"Mister Gallows, please give me the directions and I'll go alone. I am capable of defending myself." She looked up at him. "And unlike yourself I won't freeze."

Gallows absently chewed on the end of the cigarette he was smoking. He really wanted to go with the vampire, to learn more about it and meet the others like him, maybe gain allies in his quest against the humans who would destroy him. He had gotten plenty of information from her, but still it might not be enough to use against the one defending those humans or maybe she had lied to him about the strengths and weaknesses her kind possessed.

"Ah guess I could direct ya and catch ya up later." Gallows concluded slowly.

"Please!" Amelia nodded with renewed enthusiasm. "Tell me which directions to go."

"Ah'll do one better than that." Gallows stated. "I have a map. If ya wait here I'll go collect some stuff for ya and mark where ya should be headin'."

"I thank you for your kindness Mister Gallows. I appreciate it, and will try to repay you somehow." Amelia told him.

"Jus' wait ere." He told her as he moved across the room to the doorway. "Ah'll make it quick an all." With a turn of the handle Gallows left the room and closed the door behind him. The noise of the child's cries faded slightly but it still pierced through his skull.

"If ah had to put up with that racket much longer..." Gallows muttered moving deeper into the building while he mimed pulling a trigger. Imagining shooting the noisy, smelly, tiny human made him grin in those unlit halls he navigated down until he paused outside a nondescript door and pushed it open.

Stepping into the room beyond revealed it had one time been used as a home-office. A large metal framed desk sat against one wall, nearby bookshelves stood empty, the contents used as fuel for the fire in the weeks gone by since Gallows had taken up residency to shelter himself from the elements.

The floorboards creaked under his footsteps, muffled slightly by the mouldy carpet as he moved over to the furthest wall, where a small metal safe was embedded in the wall. Gallows stopped before the safe and began to enter the combination.

When he had found the safe, he had spent a while figuring out the combination. To his own surprise he had seemed to have a knack for figuring them out. Must have been remnants from his life he guessed, and it kind of lent credence to why he had found himself hanging when he awoke.

With click the door opened revealing the darkness beyond. Gallows leaned down.

"Ah knows your still there." The variant stated seemingly to himself. For a moment nothing happened and then a faint blue glow faded into existence in the rear. A cracked blue lens regarded him for a moment before winking out.

"Aw don' be like that..." Gallows grinned reaching in and pulled out a black metallic object, six long spindly legs wrapped up in thick black tape and held tightly against the body. "Ah gots a proposal for ya..."

The bug as he called it remained unmoving.

"Oh, well than..." Gallows casually began tossing the 'bug' up into the air and catching it single-handedly, almost like a softball. "Ya won't be interested in the fact ah has a vampire upstairs who has let me know _all_ sorts of interesting stuff. Or the fact your big brother seemed to be after it..."

The lens lit up again and Gallows paused in his casual juggling.

"Oh that got ya interested eh?"

The Xar did not say anything but watched the variant curiously.

"Ah wants ta make a deal wit' ya."

"We are listening..." the Xar scout's lens flickered as the words were spoken, a quiet tinny gurgle.

"Ya see, this vampire ah met was running from another of you guys...a big one." Gallows explained lifting the scout to his face level. "Well, ah saved her seeing as he already had caught one vampire. Seems ya brother wanted two for his collection but that was all greedy like."

The lens dulled slightly, giving the impression the scout was narrowing its eye.

"Now, missy vampire upstairs don' know why she was chased, poor thing." Gallows mimed wiping a tear away. "But ah reasons ya brother is planning something...probably to use against missy Hellsing vampire that lives with tha humans..."

"Vampire creature Seras Victoria!" the once powerful hand-of-god hissed with enough loathing that Gallows raised a hairless eyebrow in interest.

"So that be her name eh?" he muttered to himself. "I thought you'd like to knows that."

"Why do you tell this?" the scout asked.

"Wells, ah've seen a certain recording and knows that I'm only around because of you bugs right? Ah also knows that the humans are unknowingly sitting on a cure...one that could destroy ya kind. Which is bad news for me as well..."

"Continue..."

"Now ah be partial to existing and don't have plans on stopping anytime soon. Which puts me in a awkward position...if the humans destroy you lot I can kiss me time goodbye, so ah feel ah should assist ya...seeing as the humans have no qualms with killin' me."

"You wish to bargin."

"Aye. I scratch ya back, you let me live."

The scout did not reply right away, it refused the let the variant that had held it in captivity for so long see how excited it felt. This was possibly a chance to rejoin with the hive...at last.

"What is your...proposal?"

"Ah thought ya'd nevah ask." Gallows smirked. "Ya know the humans use their technology to prevent the other zombies from smelling them and dog-pilling their bases like fat-asses at an free all ya can eat buffet. What say ya to me getting ya inside the base? Ya think ya can disrupt their defences?"

"The chances are...promising..." the Xar stated. "However the vampire creature..."

"Ah don' think she can fight a million zombies at once now, no matter how strong she is." Gallows stated. "An' that's what'll head towards the base if their defences are lowered. And ya forget ya big brother is upto something...so whaddya say? Partners?"

The Xar went silent for a short while before it answered. "That...is acceptable."

xx X xx

Amelia sighed as the child had finally worn himself and gone back to sleep. The poor thing, she knew what it was like to go hungry and have no way of staving the hunger off. At least things were looking hopeful, if the people Gallows suggested her meeting could contact settlement A1, then, with a bit of luck he would find a warm bed and food within a day...or two at most. Perhaps then she could finally worry about Bodenolf.

With experience formed through years of existing, she forced her concerns to the furthest reaches of her mind, to be dealt with later. The child was her first priority.

Her ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. She listened in carefully. They were too controlled to that of the common garden variety of zombie. It might be a human, but that was doubtful and even less likely another vampire. So she guessed it was Gallows returning.

Amelia climbed to her feet as the door swung inwards and Gallows stepped back into the room. He was now carrying a small pack with a fairly long strap.

"Here ya go missy." The undead cowboy held the small pack towards her. "Ah put ya a few bits an' pieces ya might find useful in 'ere. The map's in there too."

Carefully holding the child in the crook of one arm, she took the pack and slipped it over her neck so that it hung by her side. She lifted the flap and glanced at the contents. There was the map on top. She pulled it out and studied it carefully, noting the marking that Gallows had wrote showing her directions.

"St. Fulci's Hospital?" she asked with frown and glanced over the top of the map to look at Gallows.

"Aye. That's where they be."

"If you're certain." Amelia said slowly checking the other stuff. She found a compass, that would help and a radio of some kind that she doubted she could work judging by the amount of buttons on it. She paused looking at the battered and cracked...something. She guessed it might be a camera judging by the lens. Again, not something she felt she could use but it would be impolite to refuse her rescuer.

"Thank you again Mister Gallows. I shall hope someday to repay your kindness." Amelia politely bowed tipping her head towards him.

"You're welcome missy vampire." Gallows replied watching as she carefully wrapped the blanket tighter around the child and turned the temperature up a little.

"I'm sorry to have pressed you to let me leave so soon, but the situation is getting dire."

"Doncha worry missy, ya've helped me more than ya think..."

xx X xx

The council chamber had gone silent at Seras' growled threat. The temperature had seemed to fall and even the darkened room seemed to become darker, more threatening. The entire atmosphere became filled with a choking feeling of doom and despair.

"Seras?" Zoe asked noticing how she was clenching her fists and fangs. Seras looked scary, with the shadows seeming to move across her face by themselves.

"Sorry..." Seras suddenly sat back and reigned in her emotions, removing the oppressive atmosphere instantly. "I got too annoyed thinking about it."

Soren let out a breath he had been unaware of holding. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that again."

"Sorr..."

Her apology was cut off as the door to the council chamber slid open with a beep. They all turned as one to see the slightly hunched over figure of Father Ammon silhouetted in the doorway, his shadow cast into the room. He stood glaring in at them, his yellowed eyes framed by his thick grey eyebrows which were held in the almost permanent scowl he wore since finding out the abomination had returned to them.

"Father Ammon?" Soren asked standing up in surprise.

"Well, well." Seras stated with no emotion. "If it isn't the messenger of god himself."

"Do not speak to me abomination." Father Ammon hissed and pointed the end of his metal staff at her.

"Seras Victoria...please show some respect." Soren begged, hoping to prevent the old man exploding at them again. Or worse running off to gather his followers and tell them about Seras.

Seras glanced at Soren. She was tempted to get him to ask Zoe to make her not go out of her way to goad the old man, but she restrained herself.

"Liuetenant!" Ammon moved his eyes to Soren. "You need to come with me quickly!"

"Why? What's going on?" Soren asked frowning as he began moving towards the old man.

"While you've been...frolicking with an abomination towards god we've received a distress call on the old emergency channels...it's from another settlement."

"What?" Soren began moving quicker. "The old channels have been quiet for years now."

Argento had climbed to his feet as well, prompted everyone else to get out of their chairs as well.

"You need to see this Lieutenant..." Ammon glanced at Seras and sneered. "It seems they've been attacked."

"Zombies?"

"Worse..." Ammon pointed accusingly at Seras. "It seems to be her kind!"

End Chapter

A shorter chapter this time. Was going to be a bit more to this one but I'll move it the next so I can release something at least.

Finally gotten hold of the trade paperback of Xomie: Reanimated. So cool to find out the way I was taking Zoe in becoming a leader in my ficcy actually happens :P

Oh and how she kills a Xar. Can't wait to incorporate something similar :D

* * *

**Chapter 4: Chapter 4**

* * *

**The Variant and the Vampire: Plague**

Chapter 3

WARNING – Major spoiler for Hellsing ahead.

"Although the human brain represents only 2 of the total body weight, it receives 15 of the cardiac output, 20 of total body oxygen consumption, and 25 of total body glucose utilization. The energy consumption for the brain to simply survive is 0.1 Calories per minute, while this value can be as high as 1.5 Calories per minute (100W) during intense puzzle-solving..." Dirge read aloud from the textbox he was half and half studying while he watched the various sized monitors, showing varying angles of the outside. All covered in bright white snow being blown around by the winds.

His large feet lay on the nearest keyboard as he lounged with his bald skull resting against the back of the plain metal seat, which was resting on its two back legs. It did not look comfortable, and anyone living who had stayed how he was sat would have cramped up long ago.

Rolling his head to right he eyed the other sentient zombie in the room. "Hey Neph..." he rumbled.

"Hmm?" the Egyptian zombie replied without blinking or missing a beat as she polished the blade of her scythe religiously.

"The brain requires quite a chunk of energy to keep working right?"

"So your book states." She replied and frowned at the tiny nick she found while inspecting the blade's edge. "Tsk..." she muttered tapping the nick with a finger nail.

"If that's so...ever wondered, where do we get that energy to think, remember...even to move?" Dirge questioned. "We don't need to breathe, so there's no oxygen consumption. We don't need to eat or drink...unless you class humans as food. Sooo, where does it come from?"

Nephthys pondered Dirge's question a moment, while taking time to study her reflection in the polished blade. She turned the blade slightly so she could see Dirge reflected in it. He was shown staring curiously towards her, waiting to see what her thoughts were on the subject.

"I would not know." She answered truthfully.

"Hmm, but you must have a theory right?" he probed. "I mean, you know plenty about us variants and how the virus works."

"As I said when we met, the technicians were most helpful in my enquiries about the modern world and my situation."

"That's not much of an answer. Come on, you're holding out on me." Dirge grinned. "Even if it's just your usual 'only the gods know' answer."

"Only the gods shall truly know." Nephthys answered with a faint grin touching the corners of her mouth. She turned in her chair to face Dirge and placed her scythe across her lap. "Happy?"

"That's it?" Dirge sighed.

"What do you believe Dirge?" Nephthys interlaced her fingers and rested her elbows against her legs as she leaned forward. "You must have a theory yourself."

"Me? I think the virus, Nekrosis must have something to do with it." Dirge placed the book down on his broad chest. He stared up at the ceiling as he continued. "If thinking is just electrical pulses being fired from neuron to neuron, then somehow Nekrosis is supplying us with the energy to continue allowing our brains to work, albeitly in a reduced or hindered capacity with our previous memories inaccessible."

He raised his right hand and stared at the back of it. His was skin tainted blue, scratched and torn in places. He watched his dead tendons move under it as he flexed his unfeeling fingers.

"It takes over a dead nervous system, powering it, allowing us to move..." he clenched and unclenched his fist, his face serious and voice thoughtful as he stared up. "...somehow. We don't tire...ever. We just keep going and going, until we get destroyed or decay too far to function any longer."

"Like a machine." Nephthys stated.

"Yeah...like a machine." Dirge pondered. "But where does the energy come from to power us? If Nekrosis is responsible, how does a virus supply enough energy to allow a deceased body to move? Something that small can't possibly fully power our bodies, not without a catalyst, not forever as it seems. You just can't get energy from nothing, the physics don't work out."

"Who knows? It exists on a scale so small; perhaps your physics laws don't work out at that size."

"Nah, they've proven quite reliable even down to virus sizes...until we get into quantum physics. Heh. Maybe it's 'spooky action' in action."

"I suppose we are spooky." Nephthys smirked.

"But you know what gets me the most is?" Dirge asked his voice louder with enthusiasm. "If it reactivates our nervous system, why can't we feel anything?"

"Would you want to?" Nephthys questioned curiously.

"What do you mean by that?"

"If we could feel...would that not mean we would feel ourselves decaying? Imagine feeling in our state. We don't heal, every wound no matter how small, we would feel it constantly. No matter how careful we were, eventually we would be in so much pain we could not move. Trapped inside your body, unable to move, feeling the pain of it decaying around you. Truly the definition of hell do you not think?"

"Well...when you put it that way..." Dirge agreed while staring at his hand again and counting the permanent scrapes bruises and tears in it. He guessed by the damage his hand should hurt like hell really. "Sucks don't it."

"Or maybe we do not feel as it is an extra burden to the virus, it has enough to do just manipulating a corpse."

"Manipulating" Dirge asked surprised by Nephthys' choice of words. "You think the virus controls zombies? What makes you say that?"

"I doubt every dead human that awoke without memories or tactile senses would suddenly decide to start eating other humans not like themselves. Nor do I believe that all animals, whether they ate the grass of the fields or other animals would all develop the same taste for living flesh. No, I believe it does more than just reactivate our nervous systems." Nephthys paused for a moment while she lifted her ever-present scythe off her lap and placed the butt against the floor. She then smoothly stood up and sauntered slowly towards Dirge while she continued speaking. "Factor in the fact our sense of smell is increased dramatically and it seems clear to me the virus has altered us or..."

"Or?" Dirge wondered as she drew up alongside him.

"Or the virus itself has the extra sense of smell and is passing on only certain required information to our brains. That we feel hungry or that this certain smell is food and the brain does the rest, with the virus passing on the controls to the muscles required to move the newly created...weapon. A sense of feeling would only get in the way." Nephthys replied looking down at him with just her eyes.

"Hmmm, a weapon eh?" Dirge pondered.

As he was pondering how much of a scary sense that all made he saw a shadow pass quickly by on one of the monitors showing the outside.

"Did you see that?" Dirge questioned dragging his feet quickly off the keyboard and hopping out of the chair.

"Indeed I did." Nephthys replied even as she was pressing buttons rapidly in search of what had just passed by. The screens flicked between cameras with each keystroke until the green-tinged undead beauty paused. "Hmm, someone is outside."

"That's crazy." Dirge rumbled, stepping up beside her and observed the screen showing the huddled up figure trudging through the snow outside, head down and covered by a thick grey cloak. He noted the person carried a satchel slung over one shoulder and it rested against their hip. "It's too cold to be a zombie. What's a human doing out there in this weather?"

"I do not know...but whomever it is, is heading this way."

"Awww perfect, must be seeking shelter from the elements." Dirge grumbled watching the figure pause and glance up at the tattered sign outside the hospital. With a purposeful stride the person began climbing the steps outside. "Looks like we have a guest..."

xXx

"Vampires?" Soren was the first to break the silence that had descended upon the council chamber at the old man's claim. "Are you...certain?" he eyed Seras out the corner of his eyes, to see what her reaction would be. The resident vampire did not show any surprise aside from a slight curiousness as she studied the old man from her chair beside Zoe.

Turning his full attention back to Father Ammon, Soren asked. "What's the situation? And why exactly do you suspect vampires?"

"When you see the message Lieutenant, you'll understand." Father Ammon stated mysteriously as he stepped further into the room. The door closed automatically behind him and once Father Ammon drew up beside him, Soren turned and followed.

The old man paused when he stood beside Professor Tallman and the holographic keyboard she had been using. He gave Soren a sly glance. "Is it wise to play this back while..._it_ is here?"

Soren once again looked over to Seras, in case she had taken offence to the old man's words. Luckily, she seemed to be ignoring his words or at least not rising to them for once, for which Soren was glad. The pair of them were as bad as each other for goading the other one, more than one thinly veiled insult had passed between them already. Zoe however looked ready to say something, quite possibly not very pleasant and Soren took the initiative, hoping to prevent any more unpleasantness than was necessary.

"There's no reason not to." The lieutenant stated. "She's a member of this community and possibly a very valuable asset."

"Or the harbinger of our doom lieutenant. May I remind you that..._thing_...is a predator and would kill you and I for food?"

"If I'd wanted you dead, you'd be dead by now." Seras responded easily to the insult. From across the table, a faint smirk could be seen tugging at her lips before she reclined back in her seat, away from the green glow of the holographic projection and became hidden among the shadows that seemed to close in over her by themselves.

"The message Father, please." Soren sighed, rubbing his temples in an attempt to prevent a stress headache coming on.

"Humph!" The old man grumbled something and tapped a sequence of commands into the system. The projection of blood cells and Nekrosis collapsed away and in its place a fuzzy image of a woman appeared. It was hard to make much out with the low resolution and green-scale image, but she appeared somewhere around forty, had short dark hair and wore a lab coat. She looked distressed and appeared to have suffered a minor head injury, as a dark trail was marking her face.

Soren moved a little closer to study the blurred details. She had a nametag on her coat, but it was unreadable at the definition of the transmission.

"This is Dr. Miranda Fieldman, VCT Serial ID seven, seven, delta, five, lemur, acting medical head, requesting immediate armed assistance to settlement A5. We are under heavy assault. I repeat; we are under heavy assault!"

"A5...that miles inland." Soren muttered to himself.

"What's VCT?" Zoe asked Seras.

"Viral Countermeasures Team." The vampire replied. "It was created in response to the initial Nekrosis outbreak."

In the background noise of the transmission, sounds of gunfire were heard. Someone was barking orders and there were a few whimpers.

"They...came out of nowhere and have bypassed our defences with ease." The image of Dr. Fieldman continued, her voice becoming more strained. "We have no idea what we're up against, they didn't register on the cold-scanners, we had no warning! They aren't deadheads, they went for our control centre, turning the automated defences off. We've suffered heavy casualties and have retreated to the panic room. We have to cut power to the base systems to prevent them overriding our lockdown. Please, if anyone is out there send aid! We have supplies enough for two weeks tops. If..."

There was a sudden unearthly howl that caused the Doctor to whip her head around quickly, followed by men shouting.

"Miranda! We need to cut the power! Now!" a male voice was heard before the transmission abruptly cut off and the meeting room was plunged into near darkness, before the ambient lighting was raised once more. There was a silence around the table and an exchange of worried glances.

"What...was that sound?" Zora spoke up. That noise had sent shivers down her spine.

Soren's frown deepened.

"You see Lieutenant. Something has attacked another settlement; something smart enough to cut them off from their own defences. It can only be one thing." Father Ammon concluded almost gleefully as he sent a glare of contempt towards Seras. "Her monstrous kind!"

"Seras isn't a monster you old..." Zoe jumped out of her chair but was interrupted as Seras spoke.

"Play that noise back."

Father Ammon sent a glance to Soren.

"Play it back Father."

With a grumble the old man rewound the audio to the point and played it again. The unearthly noise made images of monsters flash through more than one head. Seras' eyes narrowed before she glanced to the side in thought.

"What is it?" Zoe asked sensing waves of concern washing off her vampiric servant.

"Isn't it obvious?" Father Ammon sneered. "It knows the vampire attacking them. Why I bet..."

"That's not a vampire." Seras spoke quietly but her voice carried easily around the room.

"Lies!" the old man waved his staff. "Don't fall for its deceit!"

"It's not a vampire." Seras repeated with a hint of fangs showing. "If it was, shutting a door and knocking the power off to seal it would not help them." She tapped her finger against the table they all sat around.

"You..."

"She's right." Soren stated, cutting off Father Ammon's response. "No wall is a barrier to her, as we've seen. Her kind can walk right through them like ghosts."

"So what is it?" Argento asked the question they all wanted to ask. He looked directly at Seras.

"Werewolf." She stated simply.

For a moment there was only silence.

"A...werewolf?" Soren asked, his face a cross between disbelief, concern and resignation.

"You're serious?" An intrigued red-haired professor asked.

"A werewolf? Cool." Zoe grinned before glancing up at Seras. "What's a werewolf?"

"Supposedly, it's a person who changes into an uncontrollable beast during the nights of a full moon." Professor Tallman answered the girl's question, switching into a lecturing voice. "There is also a medical condition known as lycanthropy, which is defined as a rare psychiatric syndrome, a delusion that the affected person can transformed into a wolf."

"Great." Soren muttered. "This is turning into a bad horror movie. You're completely certain about this Seras?"

"I wish I wasn't. I've fought one once...I don't look forward to repeating that experience anytime soon."

"You sound worried. How bad could this be?" Zora asked sounding worried herself.

"Bad." Seras sighed.

"You don't actually believe the lies of this thing?" Father Ammon hissed.

"Father! You are not helping. Please, if all you're going to do is throw insults at Seras then I think you should leave." Zora suddenly admonished. "We don't have time for your racism."

"What?" Father Ammon blinked in surprise that Zora would speak to him in such a way. He glanced around the other gathered council members seeking support and finding none. Finally he turned to Soren.

"Lieutenant? Are you in agreement...with them?"

"She has lived amongst us for nearly seven years, and in that time no one has been killed by her. We, the council, have debated this for months and we're willing to give her a chance. We've only survived this far by coming together as a group, men and women of all races and backgrounds survive in this settlement against _all_ odds." Soren spoke with a growing sense of pride. "Seras is just another person to add to our group and bolster our chances of surviving. As Zora says, we don't have time for this."

The old man clenched his staff tightly, glanced around once more before he shuffled past the Lieutenant and headed for the exit. He paused as the door slid open and gave a final glance back. "Mark my words...god will be displeased with your choice."

"Which one?" Seras suddenly asked fixing the old man with a knowing glare. Father Ammon bared his clenched teeth in anger at her before exiting the room quickly.

"What's our course of action Sir?" Argento asked, breaking the uneasy silence that Father Ammon's exit had created.

"Give me the co-ordinates of the settlement. I can be there in a couple of hours." Seras climbed to her feet. "I'll go check it out."

"No." Soren stated fixing Seras with a stare. "I don't want anyone going off gung-ho on their own. No matter how indestructible they believe themselves. We do things our way or not at all. Got it?"

The Lieutenant placed his hands down and leaned on the table. "Corporal, can you bring up the location maps and layout of settlement A5."

Argento began typing on his own keyboard and the projector brought up a satellite image of the area. "Hmm? That's strange. Sir we don't have access to the plans."

"I thought so." Soren sighed hanging his head.

"Why don't you have the plans?" Zora queried.

"Settlement A5 is...for elite personnel only. Us grunts don't have authorisation." Soren grumbled bringing his head back up. "It's what you might consider the posh section of town. At the first signs of our imminent defeat, the top brass went there. The rest of us had to make do with whatever we could take, hold and prevent from being overrun by zombies." He finished with a sigh.

"You sound bitter." Seras pointed out, noticing the change in Soren's tone.

"I am. They abandoned us at the end of the war, why'd you think I'm the highest ranked officer here?" Soren frowned towards the map. "On one hand I feel like telling them to shove it and concentrate on our own problems. The other hand..."

"You don't want to be like them right." Seras grinned. "I know that feeling. It's hard to walk the fine line."

"Right." Soren turned to Argento. "Corporal, gather a team of five of your best. You're going to need heavy weapons." Soren glanced at Seras who nodded in confirmation that would be required. "Then meet us down in the mag-rail station."

"Yes Sir." Argento stood up and saluted before leaving the room at a brisk pace.

"You're only going to send five?" Zora asked watching Argento leaving. "From what we saw you'll need more."

"That's what Seras is for. She's a one woman army." Soren stated.

"I'll try my best." Seras stated. "But I'm concerned I won't be able to keep them safe."

"Just how dangerous is a werewolf if you are concerned?" Soren asked.

"For a living creature...very. They're natural shape shifters. Strong, fast and very resilient." Seras stated. "I don't like to admit it but I had trouble taking one down."

"Will making a batch of silver bullets help?" Soren asked seriously.

"Not really, normal bullets would work almost as good. But you need to hit em in a vital spot...and as they can shape shift you can't guarantee where that vital spot is. If you miss they heal. Very fast."

"Then this is definitely a get in and out mission. If it's as bad as it looks Seras can hold it off while Argento's team gets the survivors out."

"That might be a problem." Seras leaned closer. "That woman stated 'they' had attacked. That means more than one werewolf."

"Aw, crap."

xXx

Amelia clutched the cloak she wore tighter to protect the child from the elements as she made her way up the treacherous steps of the hospital. The icy steps were made harder to navigate with the wind blowing a blizzard and seemingly trying to make her fail each time she raised a foot off the ground.

Finally, after what seemed like hours she made it to the top. Taking a moment to analyse the building before her, she steeled herself for what or who she was about to seek out. If Mr Gallows was as good as his word she hoped to find help here.

The snow swirled around her as she strode up to the front doors, her reflection looking ghostly in the glass doors as she approached. Amelia paused at the front door and took a moment to stare into the darkened interior.

The inside appeared untouched for years and looked like the images she had seen of hospitals on the television devices, if you took away the bustle of people being seen by doctors. Keeping the child cradled in one arm, she reached out and pushed the door open and entered.

She let the door click shut quietly before removing her hood and sniffed the cold air, taking in the different scents. The smell of antiseptics faded through time and overlaid with a smell of dust and rot. There were a few long dead potted plants and she paused in confusion at the sitting skeletons.

Amelia walked over to the bone arrangements and studied them curiously. Seemed someone had placed them here. Looking back to the door she noticed a trail of long dried fluid, most likely blood passed by these waiting skeletons. Something had been dragged past at some point.

Amelia decided to follow the trail first.

She began following the marks. They led her deeper into the hospital until a closed door blocked her path. A sign on the wall simply stated "stairs". She pushed the door open to reveal a darkened stairwell. Her eyes easily picking out the details in the dark and she spotted the trail she was following went down them.

She followed it. One the way down she noticed another sign, this one stated "morgue".

"Fitting." She whispered to herself continuing her descent. Coming to another door she paused. The stairs still led further down but the trail passed under the door. Once again Amelia pushed a door open slightly, and stuck her head through it cautiously. Seeing only a dark corridor and a few empty beds with wheels on them beyond, she opened the door fully and passed through it.

The trail she followed turned left heading into another room. She pushed open the heavy double doors with ease and entered.

"What?" She exclaimed under her breath seeing the massive array of monitors rigged up in one corner. The monitors were on, most showing the outside of some fortress shaped building she did not recognise and some showed the inside and exterior of the hospital itself.

The child in her arms stirred making her freeze up, before relaxing when he did not wake.

With a sigh Amelia moved over to the monitors and studied the images. She saw one displayed the front door, which meant if someone had been watching them they would have seen her enter the building. She slowly turned around and reached out with her vampiric senses, seeking out anyone alive. She felt nothing nearby.

Amelia turned to stare down the large room. She noticed the autopsy tables, some had various instruments still on them. Wandering over she examined the sharp tools. Various sized cutting blades lay on trays, some still covered in stains. Needles and thread. She also noticed a power drill also which confused her.

Turning around she saw there were various sized pages from medical textbooks stuck to the walls, showing various images of human anatomy, the ones she had always found creepy, even as a vampire.

Further back she noticed a curtained off area. Curiosity getting the better of her she wandered over and pulled back one of the curtains. She nearly let out a yelp of terror at the sight that greeted her. The cracked and lifeless faceplate almost identical to the one the creature that had taken Bodenolf wore, stared back at her.

Hanging beside it was a large, heavily armour arm. Again almost the same as the creature's.

"Noo." Amelia backed away, a sudden terror filling her heart. Had Gallows set her up? Her backwards progress came to a sudden halt as she bumped into something cold and unyielding. Something that felt suspiciously like flesh.

"Anyone ever tell you breaking and entering is a crime?" A deep voice asked.

Amelia spun around so fast she almost gave herself whiplash and stared up at the hulking zombie before her.

"Take it easy...I'm not going to hurt you." Dirge said showing his hands in a placating way.

Amelia swallowed her surprise before a sense of cautious hope rose in her once more.

"Are...are you the people who have contact with settlement A1?" Amelia asked quickly.

_That was new_, Dirge thought in surprise at the question. Usually it was a shriek.

"Err, yeah. I guess." He replied eying the pretty woman before him.

"Please! You have to help me contact them!" Amelia pulled her cloak aside to reveal the child wrapped in the heated blanket. "He's out of food and needs shelter quickly!"

Dirge's eyeballs bulged in their sockets for a moment before he turned and bellowed. "Hey Queen Tut! Get onto the Acropolis. We got trouble."

xXx

Three slow, loud and dull metallic thumps suddenly disturbed the silence in the pitch black bowels of what had once been Millennium's hidden base of operations. The thumps were followed by the sound of tortured metal, groaning as it was slowly twisted and bent out of shape. The total darkness was suddenly disturbed as three glowing blue lenses appeared, staring in through the recently created hole in the recently discovered bulkhead door.

Xar Uoghua swept his eyes across the room beyond, slowly scanning from left to right, observing, noting and cataloguing everything. The total darkness held no concern to him; in fact it was comforting, just like home. He detested the surface world, its light an annoyance, and its high temperatures and suffocating atmosphere deadly without his armour to protect him. If not for the discovery of the vampire and subsequent loss of their hands, he would not have to be here in this distasteful realm, at least down here, in the darkness and low temperatures of Millennium's base he could pretend it was home.

The room that lay beyond the bulkhead was similar to the previous discovered areas, chock full of archaic computer equipment, hanging wires and terminals, all arranged in madman's idea of perfection. However, this room looked almost sterile compared to others leading up to it, they could only be described as graveyard for computers and electronic junk, haphazardly thrown together. Some devices even held together with duct tape which made navigating them extremely hard for the Xar as he did not want to break anything, they required...no, they _needed_ to know what data was inside this ancient computer system. Anything that would aid them to eliminate the protector of the Sera would be worth any effort.

Seeing the slight, but notable difference in layout, Xar Uoghua paused in thought.

'Strange.'

'This room appears to contain similar equipment as the other ones...'

'And yet...it is the most heavily fortified.'

'This requires investigating further.' He decided, stepping away for the hole he had torn so that he could place the object he carried down on the ground. The boxed shaped object made a dull thud, showing its weight as it was set down.

Xar Uoghua inspected the object carefully for damage and once sure none had occurred he reached out and placed both of his clawed hands into the hole before proceeding to tear the heavy metal door carefully apart, as if it were tin foil and not inches thick steel.

Once he had an opening large enough for himself to squeeze through he turned back to retrieve the box and then carefully climbed through the wreckage that was once a bulkhead or perhaps more likely, a vault door.

Xar Uoghua paused as he stood just beyond the entranceway and studied the room further. It was narrow and stretched away into the darkness beyond, further than he could see without magnification. Old computer units lined the walls, stood like rectangular guards. Wires travelled from one to the next, draped across every surface. They covered the walls, ceiling and even the floor in thick taped up bundles, running from one device to the next.

'There is air movement down here. Most likely a conditioner unit is still functioning.' He thought as his armour's sensors detected the subtle airflow. 'Interesting. Proceeding to investigate.'

Taking heavy, but careful steps the Xar moved further into the room, studying all the ancient equipment. He became fascinated by all the lifeless and ancient technology that at one point in time had all been cutting edge, now little more than metal and plastic lumps, and reflected on the journey that led to the discovery of this room. It had proved interesting in a purely historic look at human technology.

It had taken him many days to trace the power systems in the bunker back to a non-descript doorway which had led to a deep shaft, which then led to a second basement level. At the bottom had begun the strange wiring and jury rigged computer equipment. The first few rooms had been organised, full of what were the most modern super computers at the turn of the last millennium. The further he progressed in tracing the wiring, the older and more strangely put together the whole system became.

It was like taking a journey through a museum of computers, the further down you went the older they got, going from machines from the 1990's till the current level of equipment he was passing. Xar Uoghua paused seeing the IBM manufacturer logo. He carefully reached out and wiped the fine layer of dust to reveal the model number of 650, and looked up the age of the machine.

'Model 650, IBM, first delivered in 1954...these machines are nearly ninety years old.'

'They are...primitive...' he thought distastefully.

'The Last Battalion's use of technology is unusual. It appears they started with these systems and added to them as they went.'

'These machines should have been retired decades before their last assault on London.'

'They may not have had the resources...'

'No, they had plenty. Why did they not replace these with newer models?'

'Inconsequential. They were humans; we are not here to understand them. We just require their data.' He thought as he lightly tapped the glass cover used to protect a massive lump of metal and wire that he knew from the spec of the machine was a primitive magnetic storage device.

He continued to walk down the narrow room, at times carefully moving hanging wires out of his way to prevent them catching on his armour and damaging these ancient systems, all the time tracking the air flow. As he moved deeper he began to notice something and he soon assembled a pattern in amongst the wiring.

The armoured creature paused and glanced back the way he came, overlaying his vision with a tracing of the wiring just to make certain. His suspicions were correct; the wiring was all leading back to this area. Hundreds of thousands of feet of cabling and computers all led back to here, a single room buried deep below the surface. This room had been important and once held or still did hold something of value to Millennium.

'We may have found the core.'

'Excellent.'

'Bringing these systems back online is now the primary objective.'

With a renewed vigour the Xar made his way to the end and studied the furthest reaches. The room opened out, becoming a round area. The computers that littered the rest of the hidden area were kept out of this section, but all the cabling continued into it. The cabling covered the floor, some, so much so that it piled up and the floor was unseen. Right in the centre of the round room was a pedestal and on top of that, a smooth stainless steel tube that covered whatever was on the pedestal. At the top of the tube a mechanical arm held it in place.

Xar Uoghua cocked his head to the side in curiosity at the sight of the smooth glass wall that sealed the area off, only allowing the cabling through openings at the bottom, he could detect a difference in air temperature coming from the gaps in the glass. The room beyond was temperature controlled and the source of the faint airflow.

A number pad was attached to the glass, with a ribbon cable coming out of it and disappearing up into the ceiling, seemingly inserted into the glass itself. A red LED glowed on the number pad indicating there was power to this lock.

'This section had been modernised.' He surmised approaching the glass and studying the number-pad.

'There is still power operating this lock.'

'It must be supplied by the solar energy cells above.'

Curiosity getting the better on him, he pressed a button and was surprised when the small LED display lit up with red lettering.

"MJR Systems...offline." Xar Uoghua translated the German text and spoke out-loud. The single row display seemed to automatically cycle through a standard list of data to show.

"Temp. Ctrl...Active."

"Main power supply...offline."

"Welcome Doctor. Enter passcode."

Xar Uoghua studied the number-pad a moment longer before returning his attention back to his primary goal. Looking up he picked out the thick cabling that was the power supply that he had been tracking back to this room. He turned, tracing the cable's direction and followed it over to the furthest side of the room where it vanished into a circuit breaker panel behind one of the large computer units.

The Xar squeezed his way behind the computer and realised there was another chamber beyond this one. Stepping into the side chamber revealed another massive room filled with old and large metal equipment, however these were not computers.

'We have found the power generators.'

Wasting no time, the Xar made a complete circle around the chamber, analysing all the equipment before him. After one pass he moved back towards the entrance way and stopped to look upwards at the power cables that went out of this room.

'The generator's run on diesel. It is unlikely we can fuel them at this time.'

'As expected. We came prepared for this scenario.'

Xar Uoghua knelt down onto one armour plated knee and placed the container once more onto the ground. He pushed something and the container seemed to unfold, plates sliding smoothly and soundlessly apart to reveal a glowing blue sphere of energy that lit up the chamber.

The sphere was surrounded by a gyroscope like structure that revolved in three different directions at once. The energy sphere would pulse with a deep throb at regular intervals, as if attempting to escape its confines and with each pulse glowed brighter for a moment before fading quickly, casting spinning, distorted shadows around the room.

The Xar then spent nearly an hour cutting wires down and stripping them before inserting them into ports on the device that seemed to open up or grow when he required them. He doubled checked his work once the last wire was inserted, before he climbed back to his feet and traced his steps back the way he had originally came.

'The supply will adjust to the required power draw once activated.' He thought as he squeezed back into the room with the glass walled off area and studied the circuit breaker. 'This equipment may require multiple attempts to start.'

He reached out, carefully gripped the large wooden handle of the metal contact switch before he flipped it down. Sparks jumped from the point of contact as electricity flowed once more. Console lights lit up one by one, greens, ambers, and reds. A hum of energy filled the air as ancient machines stirred, bios' began activating. Overhead lighting flickered on with a click, one after another down the entire length of the room. One popped with a loud crack and the entire system seemed to stumble for a moment before continuing on with powering up. Old mechanical memory devices began to spin up and in the centre of it all, stood a triumphant Xar.

Xar Uoghua turned away from the activating computers and glanced at the number pad's display once more.

"MJR Systems awakening." He translated and wondered at the strange choice of words. Awakening?

A sudden burst of static, sounding disturbingly yawn like from an unseen speaker overhead startled the Xar who glanced up in reflex before relaxing as an old anthem began playing quietly away in the background.

For a moment, so briefly that he wasn't even sure he had imagine it...Xar Uoghua felt a surge of wrongness, as if he were tampering with forces best left alone. If he were human, the hairs on the back of his neck would be on end and a shiver may have passed down his spine, but he was not and dismissed the sensation outright.

'Illogical. It is only a collection of machines.' He thought as he began to head back to the surface. He needed to check on the progress his pet was making with the captured vampire.

If he had stayed a moment longer, he might have seen the metal sleeve being slowly lifted up revealing the clear glass jar filled with a clear fluid, complete with a shattered human spinal column and brain wired into the mass of wiring that led from the computers.

xXx

End Chapter

/grovel – Please don't lynch me. I tried to get this out fast...honest. Problem is this story is getting very complex very fast for me. Lots of different people after different things this time. I don't want to mess it up and so this did take me a lot of time to get to a point I was happy with. Also I had read a rumour about the Major a while back and took me a while to find the newest Hellsing chapters. Which actually made this idea I had easier to write and changed a chunk of plot.

Lots of backstabbing ahead :P

Sorry it's a short one again.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Wild Cherry Blossom**_

**Chapter 1 – Exams and Confusion**

Pain. That was the first thing she felt as she slowly clawed her way back towards consciousness. It was not any psychical pain she could name and she instinctively knew that this pain was spiritual in nature. Some twisted foreign presence, clawing and biting its way through her soul.

She was confused, where was she and what was attacking her very essence? Well whatever it was she would be damned if she let it win without a fight.

'After all I always win in the end.' The thought flashed through her head followed closely by a wave of confusion. 'Wait, who am I?'

Another wave of pain washed over her as the entity gained another deeper hold on her being. The thing attacking her felt utterly evil and repulsive and she cursed her current confusion.

'Focus on this thing first!' she berated herself mentally even as she prepared to fight the intruder. She focused and began to gather her energies around the presence's tendrils and squeezed, compacting her ki violently around the intruder. Whatever it was, it was obviously not expecting any resistance as the entity was immediately forced to retreat from the sudden onslaught.

'Suck on that!' she mentally cheered. Her elation was short-lived as the entity began thrashing about, lashing its tendrils violently. With each new movement another wave of pain washed over her.

'Damn it! What are you?' she grit the spiritual version of her teeth and fought back, pushing harder. The entity started to slowly lose ground to her will, its rapid movements blocked by her ki. Realising it was being forced away, the entity tried changing tactics. The many tendrils it had pulled back and began merging into one large one. This larger tendril then pushed forward with far greater strength.

She mentally grunted from the force, but held her ground by sheer willpower. After what seemed to be forever the thing suddenly stopped fighting and retreated away.

'Oh, you don't attack me and just expect to get away?' she mentally shouted at the entity as she pursued it. The thing shrank away to a small black spot, a tiny blemish on her soul that she was determined to remove. She smashed her ki against the thing and was surprised as the spot resisted her attack.

'Hmmm, whatever you are you've given up for now eh?' She gave the thing a couple of good hits before deciding it was not going to bother her for a while. She would deal with it later.

'Now where the heck am I?'

She forced open her eyes and blinked them, trying to clear the blurriness. The first thing she noticed was orange? She blinked, yup still orange, but now she could focus better she saw it was a young boy dressed in a very bright orange jumpsuit. He was lying on his back seemingly out-cold. Seeing the rise and fall of his chest and feeling his ki she knew he was alive and of no danger to herself. She noted his spiky mess of blond hair and some strange whisker-like markings on the one cheek she could see. He seemed vaguely familiar.

Extending her senses she instantly went on high alert, there were some nasty auras right nearby. She counted seven auras in total, three were giving off large amount of killing intent, one was showing bored indifference and another three that were further away seemed to be scared but trying to stay hidden.

'I would have to wake up in the middle of a battle. Just my luck…' She groused as she rolled over. Pressing her hands against the ground she raised her upper-body until she was kneeling on her legs. She quickly looked around taking in her surroundings. She appeared to be in a forest of some kind, and seemed to have been hidden among the gnarled roots of a large tree. Whoever had moved her and the blond boy had tried to hide them from sight. A quick glance up revealed a dark starry sky revealing it was night.

A glance downward showed she was wearing a red sleeveless outfit with a thin white trim, kind of a cross between a shirt and a dress, but only the front and back parts extended to mid thigh. Underneath that she found a tight pair of black shorts.

'At least it's not too girly.' She thought. 'Huh? Why would I worry about it being too girly? I'm a girl aren't I?' she paused in her self inspection.

'Why do I feel so off?' She frowned while looking down at her hands; they seemed wrong but also familiar somehow. That they moved when she wanted them to do so and the fact she could feel to slightly damp ground below them told her that they were definitely her own.

"Hey Dosu, why the hell does the boss want this loser?" a voice asked nearby. She turned her head and found a young boy, around twelve or thirteen, being held in the air by his blue top. The boy had been in a recent fight, covered in minor scrapes, bruises and dirt. He looked exhausted but had a defiant look in his eyes as he glared at his opponent. The older boy holding him was fairly tall, with spiky black hair and wearing some type of camouflage gear.

"Heh, he probably won't Zaku, not now that we've proven that this Sasuke is weak." another man, who stood hunched over was dressed similarly, but his face was almost completely hidden behind wrapped bandages. He was wearing a weird furry cloak and had a cheese-grater? on one arm.

"Pathetic." the one called Zaku looked over towards the tree where to other two lay and blinked in surprise, giving Sasuke enough of an opening to free himself with a twist of the guys wrist.

"You little punk!" Zaku growled rubbing his wrist as Sasuke rolled backwards away from him where he took up a fighting stance.

"What are you doing letting him go?" Dosu asked shaking his head.

Zaku finished rubbing his wrist and pointed behind and to the right of Sasuke. "You won't believe it but the girl that got marked is awake."

"What?"

Said girl suddenly found three Soundnin's and Sasuke's attention focused onto herself. "Umm, hello." she waved less than enthusiastically.

"Damn, this will complicate things." Dosu swore while examining the girl for signs of the cursed seal being active. 'If she now has the cursed seal we won't be able to beat her. Kabuto told us she would be dead before now and to get Sasuke as soon as possible. That's why we've attacked now instead of waiting.'

"Then I'll just uncomplicate them!" shouted Zaku confidently grinning like a madman as he pointed one palm towards her and the unconscious boy, revealing a small hole in the middle of his hand. Seconds later she felt a build-up of ki and something else that she could not quite recognise, in the ninja's body before it exploded out of the hole and headed towards her.

'Using his ki to produce massive air pressure!' she realised as the attack shot at great speed towards her and the vulnerable boy. With as much speed as her unfamiliar body allowed, she roughly grabbed the boy by his orange clothes and leapt upwards narrowly avoiding the blast of pressurised air.

'Wow…' she thought landing lightly on a branch above the area where the blast hit, watching pieces of bark, dirt and leaves get blasted around. 'There was enough pressure to see the air distort.' She made sure the blond boy was safely tucked under one arm, before stepping off the branch.

"Not bad," she stated to the shock of everybody in the clearing as she landed easily and handed the blond boy off to a stunned Sasuke. "Sasuke wasn't it? Here look after blondie for me."

"Sa…Sakura?" he stuttered as she turned back to face the three Soundnins. 'How did she avoid that attack?'

'Sakura, is that my name?' she absently thought. 'Seems familiar, but I need to take these guys out first before I worry bout that.' She started by analysing the odds. 'Sasuke seemed to be the one defending us so he appears to be on my side.' She frowned slightly and noted the head-bands everyone seemed to be wearing. 'Hmm, those three have a different symbol. Looks like a musical note, and that one attacked me with an air-based attack. The others have a leaf symbol I think, so this looks to be rival clans or something and these soundy guys seem to be the bad guys.'

Sakura quickly ran her fingers across the headband she was wearing more as a hair-band than a forehead protector, making it look like she was adjusting it when she was really checking the symbol. 'A leaf, guess I know which side I'm on. Whoever these guys are they're not playing games. Not with an attack like that. I'm not liking the odds here, Sasuke is tired and the other guy is out cold. Even if he weren't they're only kids and these guys are pros.' She fought back a wince of pain in her chest. 'Damn, my body didn't like moving that fast from earlier.' She could already feel the telltale signs of over-exertion on her part, she'd used far too much ki fighting that whatever it was and this body's reserves were way lower than she was expecting. Her body seemed awkward and restricting, like wearing a pair of too small shoes or panties as a guy. 'Where the hell did that thought come from?' Sakura thought in surprise, her memories were definitely screwed up and she would have to do something about that later. Her energy seemed weird too, like her ki was being mixed with another power and it was making it hard for her to pull that energy out for use.

'I need to end this fight fast.' she thought. Now that she had seen the attack she was pretty sure she could beat the guy easily enough. She started to gather her energies for her attack; she would need to move fast. 'I'm gonna havta gamble, it'll have to be a show of force. This'll wipe me, but I can't let em know that.'

"So windy, that's a powerful attack but it's to all intents useless." Sakura smirked in a particularly annoying fashion hoping her opponent had a temper. "Next time try using both hands, you might actually hit something, like say a rock or if ya get _really_ lucky, maybe a turtle." She emphasised the really part.

The Soundnin bristled. "Why you little bitch! I'm gonna kill you!"

There it was. Sakura felt the power build-up that signified the Soundnin's attack as he pulled both his arms into an attacking position. Pushing her body beyond its current limits she exploded into a straight head on dash. A cry of Sakura filtered past her ears but she was completely focused on her opponent whose eyes widened in shock at her speed. She was in front of him just as his powering up reach its peak.

"Ultimate Zankuuha!" Zaku shouted pushing his attack towards the small annoying girl. Sakura smirked while focusing a small portion of the remainder of her power into the tips of her pointer fingers and with exceptional precision used them to block up the Soundnin's palm-holes. It seemed like there was for a moment, complete silence as if the world itself was holding its breath.

"You lose windy." Sakura calmly stated as the Soundnin's forearms started to swell from the pressure being blocked and having no where to escape to. His eyes seemed to widen to the size of plates as he realised exactly what the outcome was going to be and he began to scream in pain as his arms bulged further still, before rupturing in a spectacular and gory manner. The pressure escaped in multiple directions harmlessly to anyone except the Soundnin who was now in tremendous agony.

"A powerful attack but its flaw is _far_ too obvious." Sakura stated with a nasty smile as she pulled her fingers back with a faint pop, allowing the Soundnin's arms to flop uselessly in front of him. She then proceeded to land what looked to be a lazy roundhouse kick against his head sending him crashing into his colleague who was forced back, his feet leaving a short gouge in the dirt from the impact and sent Zaku into a welcome unconsciousness.

Using all of her willpower to appear calm and unhurt she fixed the remaining Soundnin's with an intense glare. "Take him and get lost, before I really get mad."

Dosu stared in shock at how easily the girl had dealt with Zaku. 'And that was without the seal being active. If she does activate it…we're dead. What was that man thinking?' Quickly he weighed up his options and decided his course of action. He reached into his top and pulled out a scroll and held it towards her.

"Here, have this scroll just let us leave." he placed the scroll gently onto the ground.

"What are you doing?" the girl Soundnin asked.

"I've decided this fight is over." Dosu growled before hefting his fallen comrade over his shoulder. Just as they started walking off he looked back over his shoulder at them. "If there is another situation where we meet in this exam, next time I promise we won't run."

Sakura watched them leap away into the trees, never once taking her eyes off of them or the same intense stare off her face. Once she was happy that they had really gone she let out a big sigh of relief.

"Sakura are you…?" Sasuke asked approaching the girl slowly. He had never seen her do anything remotely like that before. Usually she was useless or just plain annoying, never had he known her so dangerous. 'She beat that guy in one move, yet they neutralised my attacks easily. How did she suddenly get so good? Was it that bite?'

Sakura turned to him and smiled in a way that he would have best describe as a Naruto-foxy grin. She began to nervously rub the back of her head with one hand.

"Sorry 'bout this." she stated before her eyes rolled up and she collapsed bonelessly forward forcing Sasuke to catch the girl in reflex. As he gently laid the unconscious girl down three shadows fell over them. Sasuke quickly reach for a weapon, but paused as he saw it was Shikamaru's team. They must have been hiding nearby. He was still wary as everyone competing in the exam could be an enemy.

"Is forehead okay?" Ino the slim, blond pony-tailed girl dressed in a blue outfit asked Sasuke.

"I think so. She just seems exhausted." Sasuke frowned at the sleeping girl.

Ino was torn between jealously that her rival for Sasuke was being held by him and her concern for her friend. Concern won for once and she smiled and kneeled down to check the unconscious girl.

"Your sensei must have taught you some awesome stuff for forehead to get that good."

Sasuke snorted. "Riiiight. Kakashi-sensei didn't teach us to move like that." He checked Sakura's neck where she had been bitten by that snake-man and found a weird bruise, a small circle, yet the bite marks had vanished completely.

"He didn't? Where did she learn to move that fast then?" Ino asked. Sasuke frowned at her but said nothing too caught up in his own thoughts to answer.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru stated mulling over what he had seen. Something had happened to Team 7. Whatever it was had knocked out both Naruto and Sakura and had left Sasuke shaken. Although the Uchiha boy was trying his best to suppress it, Shikamaru could see the boy was upset and a little scared. Somehow Sakura had suddenly become far stronger than before as well. Yep, definitely troublesome.

x X x

Hidden in the branches of a nearby tree Kabuto watched in fascination. Orochimaru had missed his target when that Sakura girl managing to push Sasuke out of the way. Instead of giving Sasuke the cursed seal as had been planned it had instead gone to the pink-haired girl. Neither he nor Orochimaru thought the girl would live, and although a set back perhaps not a total loss. The girl would die and Sasuke would more than likely still seek Orochimaru out, if not for power then at least to avenge the girl's death.

However that had not happened. The girl had survived the cursed seal. Not only survived it, but suppressed it almost completely and then had defeated one of Orochimaru's Soundnins easily with barely any energy left. Of course they had been the lowest of the low but it was still impressive. Kabuto smiled to himself, clearly amused. The girl had surprised him completely; he had assumed like everyone else that she was nothing special, the token female of the group.

The cursed seal had obviously done something to her, but it was not what was expected and Kabuto had a suspicion that when the girl regained her strength she would be far more interesting to watch than even the Uchiha boy. However he had a job to do first and that was making sure that Sasuke made it through the forest and to the finals.

x X x

The sound of dripping water pulled Sakura back towards consciousness. A partially large droplet splashed on her forehead, the coldness snapping her eyes open. She sat up quickly and took in her surroundings instantly on high alert. She appeared to be in a sewer.

'Just great, my mind is all messed up, my body's all weird, I've been attacked by some kind of black spot and now I keep waking up in totally different places.' She mentally grumbled as she pushed herself off the ground. 'Weird I don't actually feel tired.'

Looking around she found another surprise laying on the ground beside her, the blond boy in the amazingly bright orange clothes, as before he was unconscious. A faintly warm, slightly sickly smelling breeze blew through the tunnel the two of them currently occupied, reminding Sakura of breathing strangely enough.

"Well, where the hell are we now blondie?" she asked the unconscious boy. With a sigh she plopped herself down, cross-legged and folded her arms across her chest and frowned in concentration. The breeze blew past once again, this time going in the opposite direction.

"Okay, this place is spooky." She mumbled. Deciding that she should try and wake her mysterious companion Sakura reached across and shook the boy's shoulder.

"Hey wake up."

The boy groaned before opening his eyes. Sakura took note that they were a bright blue. He looked at her in confusion before recognition dawned on his face.

"Sakura-chan," he said happily sitting up before looking around in confusion. "Huh? Where are we?"

Sakura sighed in mild annoyance. "Great, you don't know either."

"Eh? Did Sasuke really drop us in a sewer?" he asked standing up while examining the pipes running overhead.

"No idea, last thing I remember properly is fighting that guy with the air attack." Sakura stated standing up also, noting that boy was shorter than herself while the boy's whisker marked face scrunched up in concentration. "By they way, what's your name?"

"Eh?" they boy asked clearly surprised. "What do you mean?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Well, my heads all messed up since I woke up that last time." She pointed a finger against the side of her head. "You look familiar but I can't remember ya name."

The boy was suddenly in her face examining her closely his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You look like Sakura-chan, but there's no way she'd forget me. Is this a trick?"

Sakura sighed. "No trick. I got no problem calling you blondie all the time if you want that." She glared back at him. The staring match was interrupted by distant chuckle. A very evil chuckle followed by the breeze picking up.

"Wha…what was that?" the boy asked nervously glancing in the direction the noise had came from, previous hostilities forgotten. Sakura felt her skin crawl, whatever it was, its presence felt very powerful, very old and utterly malevolent. Although her instincts told her to walk away quickly, a small voice at the back of her mind thought strangely that whatever it was knew something about why her head was messed up. Deciding she had to know Sakura began to walk down the tunnel towards the noise.

"Hey where are you going?" blondie asked grabbing her left arm. With a quick jab to his wrist he found his fingers opening involuntary allowing Sakura to continue.

"I'm going to find out where the heck we are and what's going on." She simply replied. "You can stay here if you want to scaredycat."

"I am not a scaredycat! And my name's Naruto not blondie." Naruto informed her as he caught up with her. Oh yeah he would prove that he was not scared.

The tunnel turned out to be rather short and the two lost ninjas soon found themselves in a huge chamber, ankle deep in cold water and lit with a sickly yellow glow. Naruto let out a gasp at seeing the massive bars in front of them, the bars themselves where thicker than he was wide.

Sakura could really feel the presence now, whatever it was, was just behind those bars. She could not actually see anything behind them because of the darkness but it was there. A glance upwards showed the bars disappearing into the inky blackness above them. At what she assumed was halfway up there was a lock with a sealing ward attached to it. Whatever was behind those bars was a prisoner she decided.

"What is this?" Naruto asked nervously stepping closer to the bars trying to see what was hidden in the dark.

"A prison." Sakura stated examining the bars. "A very big and well made prison."

Naruto was too busy examining the darkness at his level that he did not see a pair of huge slitted, blood red glowing eyes open in the cage above him. Sakura yanked the blond boy back by his orange jumpsuit as a set of massive claws swiped at him through the gaps in the bars landing on the ground with a huge thud.

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

"So I finally meet the instrument of my imprisonment." A deep smooth voice rumbled reverberating throughout the chamber. The voice seemed that powerful that they felt it rather than heard it.

Naruto stared at the giant fox behind the bars and it suddenly clicked.

"You're Kyuubi!" he shouted jumping up and pointing accusingly at the demonic fox. "This is all your fault! You're the reason everyone hates me."

The demon laughed at Naruto before snorting at the boy, the unexpected wind knocked him over into the water once again. Naruto glared at the fox annoyed. "This is the stupid seal on my belly right?"

"Good, you actually do have a brain in that head." Kyuubi growled before slamming against the bars making both of the humans below him jump. "The cursed seal that your Yodaimine used to deny me my freedom."

"So…this is inside me?" Naruto pondered and then looked at Sakura who was looking as confused as he was. "Then what's she doing here?"

"Heh, heh, heh. So you noticed. He is here because I brought him to see me. We have much catching up to do."

"What do you mean by him?" Sakura asked in surprise at the gender pronoun. Looking on with interest at the fox she asked "Do you know me?"

"You don't remember yet, but we were once allies Godslayer."

Naruto looked at Sakura in puzzlement. 'How could Sakura have been allies with Kyuubi?'

"Godslayer?" Sakura rolled the word over her tongue but it meant nothing to her. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"Oh?" Kyuubi drawled. "Perhaps your other name will mean more to you Wild-horse of the Apocalypse. We met at the end of this world and through an alliance of convenience fought together."

Sakura shook her head, nothing the fox way saying was making any sense to her and judging by Naruto's face neither did it to him.

"Your being here now is interesting…" the fox paused. "This promises to be fun." Kyuubi continued. "Perhaps once your memories come back we'll talk again. But for now you're both going to wake up."

x X x

Nearly two days had passed since Sakura and Naruto had met the Kyuubi inside of the blond haired boy. Strangely enough Naruto had only asked about the experience once just to make sure it had actually happened, and he had even done it outside of Sasuke's hearing. Sakura guessed it was because he did not want Sasuke to know about the demon inside him. It was weird; she would never have been able to tell judging by Naruto's extreme personality that he was the container of such a powerful entity.

A loud cry followed shortly by three loud splashes made her lookup and she smiled at the scene. Sasuke and Naruto were fishing in the river just down from the small camp the three of them had setup. Well it was a form of fishing, if the use of ninja skills counted as fishing. Naruto would climb to the top of a nearby rock outcrop and leap into the air, produce a couple of clones (she was still trying to figure out that technique) and land with a huge splash in the river, scaring the fish enough to cause them to leap out of the water where Sasuke would then use his kunai to pin them to a nearby tree. It was quite impressive to watch actually.

Sakura had spent the time since waking up for the second time two days ago analysing her current condition. She had discovered that one reason her body had seemed so off was she was a kid too. She could not actually remember how old she was but she was certain she was older than her current body. The more she thought about it the more Kyuubi's words seemed to make a strange kind of sense. Past lives and reincarnation? Was this what was going on? Memories from a previous life awakening or was it something else entirely. Or maybe she was just going mad.

She had found out from Sasuke and Naruto that they were in the middle of an exam to become chunin grade ninjas and the current consensus as to her fractured memories were caused by being attacked by some snakeguy who had bit her.

Absently she rubbed the spot on her neck, it had throbbed on a couple of occasions but she easily subdued the thing. Neither of the two boys knew what it was claiming that she was the smart one and if she did not know what it was then they would not either. Her thoughts where interrupted by Sasuke handing her a cooked fish on a stick. She shook her head in surprise. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that the boys had finished fishing and cooked the catch without her noticing.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled taking the offered food. Sasuke faintly nodded before sitting down to eat his own, while covertly watching the girl. She was not acting like her usual self and her claim of amnesia was worrying Sasuke. Naruto had acted funny around her when they first woke up. He had kept glancing at Sakura funnily and when Sasuke had mentioned it to the blond boy he had just mumbled something about weird dreams and changed the subject. All this and the threat of the snakeguy had Sasuke on edge.

At least Naruto was now acting like his usual self now. "That one's biggest!"

Naruto devoured his fish in seconds, closely followed by Sakura herself, leaving Sasuke staring at the two in surprise. The trio sat in silence for a short time.

"This is the 4th afternoon since the start of the second test. It started around 2:30pm, meaning we have 26 hours at most left to finish." Sasuke stated in between mouthfuls, letting that facts sink in. "We need to find a heaven scroll."

Sakura frowned. This test was weird and she was still unsure what was really going on. She did know that this test meant a lot to both Sasuke and Naruto so she had decided to help them complete it before getting herself checked out by someone qualified. She had gone over the rules with Sasuke the other day and she quickly pointed out that the longer they waited the less likely they would pass. However they had been forced to wait the last two days to heal up enough.

"Sooo Sakura-chaaan, do you remember anything else yet? Like being my pretty girlfriend? Eh? Eh?" Naruto asked hopefully even if it was not true.

"She has amnesia idiot." Sasuke stated annoyed at Naruto's antics. "And beside she isn't your girlfriend."

"No she doesn't Sasuke-bastard. She just doesn't remember us right Sakura-chaaaan?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes. Sasuke flicked a small stone with his thumb which lightly clipped the boy's head. "That is amnesia dummy!"

"Oi!" Naruto grumbled rubbing the spot where the stone had hit rigorously.

"I'm going to get some water." Sasuke announced getting to his feet and heading towards the nearby river.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto spoke as he picked up their earth scroll drawing Sakura's attention. "There's a way to get the scroll without fighting."

"Huh?" Sakura looked at the blond boy in surprise as he reached for his small travelling pack and pulled out some scrolls. Realising what he meant Sakura stared at him. "You mean to…"

"That's exactly what I mean." Naruto smirked looking slightly evil. "I have tons of scrolls; all we need to do is make one look like a heaven scroll."

"Yes but you don't know what's inside. I'm sure the examiners will check the scrolls."

"These things usually have a password in them. One that needs two parts to understand. Basically! Basically! You have to say the password when you reach the tower to pass the test. So we take a look and figure out what the other one says." Naruto stated triumphantly as he held the scroll in front of himself and placed his thumb against the seal. Just as he was about to peel it open a hand came out of nowhere and clamped itself over Naruto's hand preventing him from opening the scroll.

"You shouldn't do that. Did you forget the rules?" asked Kabuto from his crouch next to Naruto. Sasuke must have spotted them and came running, but crawled to a halt at recognising Kabuto from earlier on in the first part of the exam.

"What's going on?" he ask suspiciously reaching for his weapons.

"Nothing much, just preventing these two from disqualifying your team." Kabuto calmly stated letting go of Naruto's hand and standing up. "They were going to open the scroll. That would have been bad."

Sasuke stared at his two team-mates. Naruto looked guilty but Sakura just seemed confused. 'How did he sneak up on me?' Sakura thought narrowing her eyes at this Kabuto.

"Geez, what were you thinking?" Sasuke asked closing the distance between them.

"That was close." Kabuto told them. "In the previous exams the scrolls were loaded with a hypnotism-jutsu. Anyone who saw it would be knocked out until the end of the exam."

"By the way…" Sasuke wondered suspiciously watching the older silver haired boy. "You're Kabuto right? What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"It's not like I'm after your scroll…" Kabuto smiled.

"Yeah, if you were you could have taken it just now." Sasuke agreed. "So you're after a heaven scroll as well."

"No actually I already have both." Kabuto chuckled showing them the two scrolls. "Something happened and I'm on my way over to the tower to meet my team-mates."

Sasuke stared in shock. 'What!'

"Well, I'm off." Kabuto waved turning away.

"Wait!" Sasuke said with force. "Fight me!"

Kabuto paused and glanced at Sasuke over his shoulder. "Fight you…?"

"You idiot! What are you saying?" Naruto cried out. Sakura just stood and watched the two unsure which side to take.

"You are serious." Kabuto smiled turning to fully face Sasuke.

"Sorry, but we're running out of time."

"Sasuke! Kabuto-san helped us!" Naruto shouted in his usual manner.

"Shut up!" Sasuke said not taking his eyes off of his target. Sakura was forced to lean out of the way of Naruto's flailing arms as he made his thoughts clear. "You jerk!"

"We don't have a choice. I've said it before; this is the only way for us to survive in this forest." Sasuke stated.

"You're lying." Kabuto said simply. "You aren't as cold-hearted as you're making out. If you really were you would not have challenged me. You would have just attacked and tried to take my scroll. That's a ninja." Kabuto push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I don't dislike you for that, so I'll tell you the path you should take. But I'll tell you as we move. The smoke from that fire and the smell of fish can be sensed from miles away. Wild beasts or enemies could be on the way."

x X x

Moments later the group were leaping from branch to branch high up in the trees and making good time as they headed towards the tower.

"Are there really enemies left?" Sasuke asked Kabuto mid jump.

"Yes, no doubt about it. Just think for a second." seeing he had their attention he continued. "Do you know what the smartest tactic is in a large area like this forest?"

Sakura smirked realising exactly what Kabuto was saying. "The goal is the tower, so the easiest thing would be to head there at the start as fast as possible and set an ambush for the other slower teams."

'Smart girl.' Kabuto thought, 'Smart and powerful. It's going to be interesting to see what you are capable of.'

"Exactly. However, there may be others in the same position as yourselves."

"I see!" exclaimed Naruto. "So there already loads of enemies at the tower waiting to ambush us. Bring it on! We'll kick their ass' and all pass the second test!"

"At this point in the test people I call 'collectors' appear." Kabuto told the group. "Even though the tower is right in front of their eyes, the difficult test in this forest of death, that situation that gives birth to them. Basically, those who collect extra scrolls, incase they run into a strong enemy and need a gift to ensure their escape. Or those that try to receive favour or information by delivering an extra scroll to another team from their village. Or those that decide to pick off more teams to ensure an easier time during the third test. You should realise that the ones who do this are strong and confident in their abilities. The worst possible enemy."

"I see..." Sasuke stated as they continued to leap from tree to tree. "I finally understand why you appeared to us. You're scared too."

"...exactly." Kabuto chuckled mid-summersault so he could smile at Sasuke.

Sakura landed and paused, something suddenly felt wrong to her. Her sense of danger was tickling the back of her mind. "Guys wait..." she glanced around finding herself alone. "...up."

She sighed in annoyance before glancing over her shoulder. Someone was watching her but she could not pinpoint where from. 'Need to hide quickly.' she thought scanning the area for someplace to hide. Not seeing anyplace appropriate she swore quietly.

x X x

Kabuto landed lightly on a large branch and held his hand to signal they were pausing. Two light thumps signified the others had landed next to him. Wait two? He glanced around and immediately saw Sakura was missing.

"Where's the girl?" Kabuto asked checking around for her. Sasuke glanced around and his face showed concern.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" Naruto shouted out as Sasuke groaned into his hands at the imbecile.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto sighed, "if she's been abducted you've just let anyone in the area know we're here."

"She was right behind us. She can't be far back." Sasuke reasoned. "We need to find her, we can't finish the exam unless the whole teams arrives at the tower."

Kabuto frowned. 'Damn that girl. Going missing at a time like this.' He concentrated on locating her presence. 'Got you!'

"She's behind...huh?" Kabuto was surprised when her presence suddenly vanished. And it did not just vanished like someone being killed, it just faded away.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked reaching for a kunai.

"I thought. Nothing." Kabuto frowned. 'This is odd. I can't even track the cursed seal.'

"There!" Naruto shouted spinning around and throwing a kunai. The kunai flew straight and true hitting it's target with a wet splosh. Too bad the target was just a centipede, an exceptionally large one but nevertheless a centipede.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked and then looked sheepish.

"We don't have time for this." Sasuke growled. "We need to find her." He leapt off followed by Kabuto. Naruto groaned at making another mistake showing off before following the others.

After a couple of hours searching the area the group stopped. Everyone was slightly tired from the constant searching, and so far no sign of Sakura was found.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going round in circles." Sasuke complained. "And where did Sakura vanish to?"

Kabuto spotted it first. Tapping Sasuke on the shoulder he pointed to his right. There pinned to the tree was the centipede Naruto had killed earlier. "I think we have been going in circles. And that would explain how we can't find her was well. A Genjutsu."

"Damn." Sasuke swore glancing around. "What do we do?"

"I bet whoever this is, they're sitting back waiting for us to tire ourselves out running around and then move in for the kill while we're tired."

"So what do we do?" Sasuke asked while Naruto grumbled about cowards.

"I..." Kabuto began but was cut off by a started cry followed by the sound of something falling through the trees. He instantly knew the Genjutsu had dropped. "What the?"

A second later there was another cry of pain and then silence.

"Eh? What do we do?" Naruto asked spooked.

Without warning a body fell from above them and slammed onto the branch they were standing on coming the rest hanging over said branch. All three ninja immediately looked up and stared in surprise.

"Sorry guys, it took me ages to find em." Sakura grinned hanging upside down by her legs from one of the branches above their heads.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto gaped pointing at the girl.

x X x

As luck would have it the three defeated ninja's that Sakura had taken care of had a heaven scroll and within twenty minutes later they had reached their goal of the tower.

Curiosity was eating Kabuto on the trip and he had asked Sakura how she had done the disappearing trick. She had told him she was not sure what it was she had done, but it had been something she suddenly had remembered. Kabuto felt the girl was lying, but accepted her explanation. He knew Sasuke did not believe the girl either and noticed the boy watching her like a hawk. Naruto seemed to be the only one that believed her, but then he was Naruto.

"You're late Kabuto." a voice stated as Kabuto's two teammates walked into the clearing. Both the newcomers wore masks obscuring the lower halves of their faces.

"Oh, you guys." Kabuto greeted them. "We ran into some trouble. Sorry." Kabuto turned to Team 7. "We're going through this door guys. Wish us all luck."

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered grinning wildly before he and his team entered the tower.

x X x

"I've written down all of his data from the second test." Kabuto stated with a smirk as he held up one of his statcards. "You want this correct?"

"So how was it?" a hoarse gender-neutral voice asked taking the offered card from Kabuto.

Kabuto laughed. "You're that interested Orochimaru-sama…"

"I want to know your opinion…" Orochimaru stated lightly while analyzing the card carefully, a faint smirk playing on his features. "as our spy."

"That's unnecessary." Kabuto stated. "As everything will be decided by you. However, here is the data I've collected on the girl. You may be interested."

Orochimaru's head snapped up in surprise. "She lives?"

Kabuto handed another card over. "Alive and kicking, and if that was not surprising enough she seemed to have suppressed the cursed seal, if not completely then at least beyond my abilities to cause it to awaken."

Kabuto watched his master's face scan the card incredulously. "This is most…interesting. This little mistake may have been fated. If this data is correct I just may get more than I expected. A better body with the Sharingan and a powerful ninja as well." Orochimaru smiled evilly. "Perhaps we should find out just what she is capable of then, I will arrange a…special match for her."

x X x

Authors Notes :)

Constructive criticism would be liked, not just "your story sucks"

I hope this chapter was long and detailed enough. I'm gonna try and keep the chapters fairly lengthy. If you haven't guessed by now the crossover is with Ranma half, there were enough hints I hope :P

About the ki, that will be explained in time and yes they use chakra, again I hinted at it. Kyuubi knowing Sakura's previous life will be explained in time too. Same with her memories.

Omake 1

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

"My what big teeth you have Granma." stated Sakura.

"All the better to eat you with my dear." Kyuubi singed.

Omake 2

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

The effect was ruined by the pink nightcap and nighty. "Whaaaaaat?"

**Chapter 2 – Fires of Youth!**

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked around the large room they found themselves in after entering the tower through one of the doors. The main features of the room were the large railed walkways on either side halfway up the room that had various cloth decorations hanging at equal spacing. The stone floors and walls were bare aside from the wall opposite the entrance, which a large scroll covered in text sat in the centre.

"Nobody's here." Naruto stated looking around confused. "Hey, hey, what should we do?"

"Without heaven?" Sakura started reading the wall scroll. "Isn't one of the scrolls a heaven scroll?"

"Yeah." Sasuke agreed.

"Well I guess its telling us to open the scrolls." Sakura stated. "Naruto pass me one, you open the other."

Naruto dug out the heaven and earth scrolls from his pack and handed the earth one to Sakura who carefully peeled the seal open. Naruto did the same and with a nod they opened the scrolls together and stared at the now exposed words.

Sakura looked at her scroll in surprise as the text was unfamiliar to herself. Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened though, they recognised the type of text used on the scrolls.

"Naruto! Sakura! Let go of the scrolls." Sasuke shouted as smoke began to rise from said scrolls. The two of them quickly tossed the scrolls away where the smoke rose quicker and thicker than before. Soon the outline of a figure could be seen within the smoke and all three took up fighting stances.

As the smoke cleared the three looked surprised.

"Huh?" Naruto asked dazed and confused.

"You're…" Sasuke started to speak.

"Iruka-sensei." Sakura finished as she recognised the man standing in front of them which caused both Naruto and Sasuke to look at her in surprise. Sakura was stunned as well, the first time a memory had returned to her of a person. She knew this man with the scar running across his nose, she also knew he had been their sensei at school but that was all. She tried to dredge up some more memories attached to him but nothing else came to her.

"Hey, long time no see." Iruka smiled at his former students, two of whom were staring between himself and Sakura doing their best goldfish impressions.

"Eh? What's going on? Why was Iruka-sensei summoned?" Naruto was the first to ask the question they all wanted to know.

"At the end of the second test, it's setup so that we chunnins meet up with the examinees." Iruka explained. "And I was allowed to be the one to greet you guys."

"Greet us?" Sakura asked with a frown.

Iruka pulled out a large brass pocket watch from one of the many pockets in his body armour and flipped it open with a click. He checked the time left.

"Well, you made it with a couple of hours to spare." He stated happily snapping the watch shut and re-pocketing it. "The second test, all three of you pass. Congratulations. To celebrate your successful completion of the second test I'd like to buy you a round of ramen but…"

"We did it!" Naruto interrupted him as he tackled their former sensei.

"H…hey Naruto, wait till I finish…" Iruka tried to tell him but Naruto was off on a tirade of shouting "We did it!" continuously.

"I'm so happy!" the blond boy cheered hugging Iruka, who smiled at the boy gently.

"You sure haven't changed in your inability to relax Naruto." Iruka chuckled as the orange garbed boy began dancing around the room.

"Heh, I see…" Sasuke smirked. "If we had opened to scrolls during the test, what would you of done Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto stopped his prancing and looked at Iruka in puzzlement.

"As sharp as always Sasuke." Iruka said bending down to roll-up the scrolls. "As you may had figured out, this test's rules are setup to test your ability to perform missions correctly…so if you were to break the rules and open the scrolls those examinees would be put in a condition of unconsciousness for the remainder of the test period. Those were my orders."

"Good thing you guys didn't open it." Sasuke smirked at Naruto and Sakura. Naruto was suddenly on his knees praying. 'Thank you Kabuto!'

Iruka glanced up at the wall scroll. "One final thing, I should explain the words on the scroll. This is the motto of the chunnin written by Hokage-sama."

"Motto?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, the 'Heaven' in this paragraph refers to the human mind and the 'Earth' refers to the body."

"Ahhhh…" Naruto pretended to understand.

"If you lack heaven seek wisdom. Be prepared. That's basically for example if Naruto's weakness is his brain, gain knowledge and prepare yourself for missions."

Naruto looked less than impressed.

"If you lack earth, run in the fields and seek advantages." Iruka continued. "So if Sakura's weakness is stamina, then it's saying to train harder."

'Like I didn't know that.' Sakura grumbled to herself.

"And if you have both heaven and earth you can succeed in even the most dangerous of missions. So basically all missions become safe and easy. And the last part with the missing word is the one that represents a chunnin. These rules will guide a person's extremes."

Iruka paused letting all that sink in. "These five days of survival were to test the examinee's basic abilities to become a chunnin and you guys successfully pass that. The chunnins are at a rank of military captain, you have responsibility of guiding a team. The knowledge, stamina and inner wisdom all are needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge this next step with the chunnin motto in mind."

x X x

Iruka led them though the building to a large room which was obviously laid out for a tournament. Large open area with stairs at the far end leading up to walkways which lined the walls allowing a good view of any combat that would occur below. At the opposite end of the room to the stairs were a slightly raised platform and a huge hand sculpture performing a hand sign.

All the teams that passed the test were assembled facing towards the Hokage and the examiners who were stood on the raised section. A few turned to look to see who the stragglers were. Sakura immediately spotted Zaku, the one she had defeated earlier. Both his arms were slinged and covered in bandages. As he spotted her his face darkened considerably.

Sakura could feel Zaku's eyes following her as they made their way across the room to join the other teams, glaring with hate. Sakura grinned to herself before waving and winking at him and she internally chuckled as his face grew even angrier. She knew it was childish but she just could not help herself.

Once everyone was in place, the team leaders and examiners lined up in front of the examinees at either side.

"First off, for the second test congratulations on passing!" Anko told the assembled gennins. "Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully! Now Hokage-sama, please."

Sakura was carefully checking out the various people in the room. There were some pretty impressive auras about and this was making her nervous, especially with her memories being swish-cheesed. The old man in the red and white robes and large hat definitely caught her attention. Paying closer attention she noted his appearance, his relaxed stance and the power that was behind his deceptive appearance, his small gray beard and the pipe he was smoking. The pipe made her uncomfortable but she was not sure why exactly.

"Before I explain the third test there is something I would like you all to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam." The Hokage spoke his voice quiet but carried easily.

'True reason?' Sakura frowned at these words. 'Sound suspicious.'

"Why do we have all the allianced countries taking the exams together?" The Hokage paused to adjust his hat. "To promote friendship among the countries? To raise the level of shinobi? I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning of this exam." He removed his pipe before continuing, the smoke drifting lazily upwards. "This exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries."

Sakura's frown deepened as she noted the seriousness on the adults faces. 'Crap. I'm caught up in someone's stupid war games. War games using kids!' For a fraction of a second she lost control of her emotions and her battle aura flared. She suppressed it quickly hoping no one had noticed the slip.

The Hokage paused as he felt the aura blink into existence around the Haruno girl for a brief second before vanishing. No one else seemed to have reacted and he was about to dismiss it when he noted the Gara boy was staring at the pink-haired girl intently. 'So, I was not imagining it?'

"What does that mean?" a girl's voice asked bringing his attention back to the group.

"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting and resources the countries choose to stage a tournament. That was the origin of what would become the chunnin selection exam."

"Why the hell do we have to do that crap?" Naruto shouted. "Isn't this for deciding who's a chunnin?"

"It is a fact that this exam decides which shinobi's have what it takes to be chunnin." The Hokage answered. "But also on the other hand, this exam has another side where each country's shinobi risk their own lives to protect their land's prestige."

"Prestige?" Sakura growled.

"Watching this exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries, who make up the clients of the shinobi. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch all of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, then that country will receive more clients. And conversely, if seen as weak they will lose clients."

'Damn them.' Sakura mentally growled clenching her teeth. 'This is sick. They are using children to display their power to each other, in hopes of getting business? They're treating this as a business.' She looked around at the assembled examinees. 'They've been raised like this? Trained as weapons since they could walk.' She felt ill. 'It makes sense now why if this is an exam why would that Zaku be using deadly force. That had been bugging me. They've all been trained to kill.'

The Hokage continued, absently noted that the Haruno girl was looking decidedly angry. "This will signal to potential enemy countries that our village has this much power. So it will also send a political message to the outsiders."

"But why?" shouted a wild looking boy. "Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?"

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is born only though life-risking battles. This exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own. It only has meaning because lives are at risk."

"Then why do you say stuff about it being for friendship?" the same girl who had asked a previous question asked.

"I said it in the beginning; I don't want to confuse you about the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. This is the shape of friendship in the world of the shinobi."

Sakura shook her head sadly. 'I can't believe this place.'

"Before we begin the third test I will tell you one last thing. This is not just a test…this is a life-risking battle, with your dreams and countries prestige on the line."

"I get it." Naruto stated to himself confidently.

"I don't care what it is…" Gara spoke up. "Just hurry up and tell us what life-risking battle entails."

"Yes, I'd now like to explain the third test."

"Actually" a weak voice said followed by a cough as a ninja appeared in front of them. "I apologise Hokage-sama. From here on as the referee will you allow me, Gekkou Hayate."

"By all means." The Hokage gave his blessing.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate." The ninja said turning around revealing his pale face and sunken eyes. He had deep bags under his eyes and seemed to be constantly coughing. "Hmmm, before the third test there's something I'd like you to do."

Is this guy ill? Were the thoughts that went through most of the examinees minds at Hayate's appearance.

"It's a preliminary to decide who gets to participate in the third test."

"Preliminary? What do you mean?" shouted Shikamaru in a rare display of anger.

"Umm, because the first and second test may have been too easy this year we have a few too many people remaining. Accordingly by the chunnin exam rules we must have a preliminary and reduce the number of participants for the third test. As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test so the fights could take too long." Hayate explained all the while coughing. "We are limited by time."

Hayate looked over the assembled gennins. "Hmm, so anyway those who are not feeling well, those who feel like quitting after these explanations please come forward now, since we will be beginning the preliminary right now."

"What! Right now?" was cried out.

"Umm…" Kabuto held his hand up smiling. "I'm going to quit."

Naruto's head whipped round in surprise at hearing Kabuto's statement. "Huh? Kabuto-san?"

"Umm, you're Yakushi Kabuto-kun from the leaf right?" Hayate asked as Kabuto nodded. "You may leave now. Does anyone else want to retire? Oh…umm…I forgot to mention that you will be individually battling from now on. You may raise your hand by your own judgement."

"Kabuto-san! Why are you quitting! Why?" Naruto shouted his question drawing much attention to the blond boy, even Gara was watching.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but my body is all beat up. I actually haven't been able to hear out of my left ear since the time I was attacked by the Soundnins before the second test. And now we'll have to risk our lives…I just…" Kabuto trailed off.

"I quit as well." Zaku growled sending a death glare at the pink-haired girl who had defeated him so painfully. "I can't fight in this state." He indicated his bandaged and strapped-up arms before turning to leave. As he came level with Sakura he stopped and turned to the girl.

"Watch your back bitch. I. Will. Kill. You." His voice was dripping with venom as he threatened her.

"Like I haven't heard that before, Windy." Sakura calmly shrugged. Both Naruto and Sasuke glared at the boy threatening their team-mate.

"Anyone else?" asked Hayate with a cough.

"I'll pass too." Sakura stated holding a hand up.

"WHAT!?" Naruto burst out. "Sakura not you too? You can't quit!"

"Sorry Naruto, I helped you guys through the forest part but now I'm done with this…exam." Sakura spat the word exam and rubbed her neck absently. "Plus my heads all messed up and I have no real motivation to pass anymore."

Naruto stared at the ground upset shoulders shaking lightly. "Kabuto-san and Sakura…"

'Is he crying?' Sakura thought in shock.

"Fine! If you quit so will I!" Naruto suddenly burst forward pointed his finger at her almost touching her nose causing the girl to automatically go cross-eyed.

"W…What?" She stepped back from the blond boy in surprise.

"Us three are a team! It won't be the same if you quit now. You'll even be letting Sasuke down too. Right Sasuke?"

Sasuke frowned. The tests were now individual so it did not matter to him if Sakura quit. Or did it? When they had first been placed in the team he had only been concerned with getting stronger to avenge his family by killing his brother and felt that team-mates would slow his progress down. His thoughts drifted back to Kakashi's bell test and his words came back.

"_Those that disobey orders are trash. However, those that leave team-mates behind are lower than trash."_

Sakura that annoying girl had disappeared in the forest and this new Sakura was a proper ninja in Sasuke's eyes. He had to admit he was intrigued by the changes in her and wanted to know what she was truly capable of. He also felt a slight tug of guilt at the thought of letting Naruto, who wanted to pass this exam as much as he did quit with her.

'Damn them for being like this. And damn me for being soft.'

"Idiots." Sasuke said to Naruto's dismay whose shoulders slumped in defeat. "You're right deadlast, we are a team. I'll quit too if my team-mates aren't going to even try and pass."

Naruto's stunned face morphed into a huge foxy grin. "See Sakura! See!"

Sakura stared at the two boys that she barely knew. They were both willing to give up on this test, one that they were dead set on passing if she was not with them. A strange sense of hope fluttered in her chest, was this what real friends were? Something in her head; a faint memory tickled, a feeling that she had not had many friends in the past. Even if she could not agree to the reason behind this test Sakura suddenly found herself unable to let these two down.

"Naruto. Sasuke." She smiled at them, before her smile turned to a sinister smirk. "I guess I can't quit after all. Well then guys; let's kick the competition's asses!"

Naruto cheered and Sasuke let out a relieved breath. 'Damn that was close.' He thought.

Hayate sighed, "You are sure you're not quitting now?"

Sakura nodded.

x X x

On the raised section in front of the gennins MaitoGai stared at his eternal rival's team.

"Such passion and fires of youth!" he exclaimed fires of youthful passion burning in his eyes. "Kakashi my rival," Gai grabbed Kakashi round his neck in a one handed hug dragging his head down to Gai's chest level. Kakashi looked less than impressed by this display of youthful passion. With a shaking clenched fist and tears streaming down his face Gai continued. "You have truly inspired the fires of youth in your team's hearts! I must congratulate you. Yosh!! You have inspired me to prove that I can inspire even greater heights of youthful passion in my own team. And if I fail I shall run fifty laps around Kohana carrying my team!! And if that fails to inspire I…"

Kakashi tuned Gai's ranting out, he had had years of practice after all and smiled beneath his mask at his teams display. 'They truly have learned my lessons on teamwork. You've all done me proud, especially you Naruto. Your ability to inspire your friends is a powerful one.'

"Isn't that right my rival?" Kakashi snapped back to find Gai asking him a question.

"Eh? Did you say something?"

"ARRRGGHH!" Gai shouted hands gripping the side of his head and turning away from Kakashi allowing Kakashi to stand up straight once more.

'Damn you and your coolness Kakashi! It really ticks me off.'

x X x

"Umm, if our little soap opera is over…" Hayate sighed eying team 7. "Let the preliminaries begin. This preliminary will consist of one-on-one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation."

Hayate looked over the gennins. "Since we have nineteen left we'll have ten matches. The winners will advance to the third test. Umm…which leaves us with a slight imbalance; this means that one of the nine losers of a match may get a second chance depending on their performance as judged by the team leaders, if they are in any condition to continue."

Hayate paused to have a short coughing fit before continuing. "There are no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies, is knocked out or admits defeat. Umm, if you don't want to die then quickly acknowledge defeat. However when I decide the fight is over I will step in and stop things if necessary. We don't need to increase the amount of corpses unnecessarily. And now the object of your destiny…"

Hayate indicated the far wall where one of the wooden frames slid upwards revealing a screen.

"Is this electronic scoreboard which will show the random match-ups for each battle. Now this is sudden but let's announce the names for the first fight."

Silence fell over the arena as the participants watched the board, some nervously others with anticipation. With a beep the first two names appeared on the board. It read 'Haruno Sakura vs. Uchiha Sasuke'.

Sasuke and Sakura both stared at the board in disbelief.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted. "Why do people on the same team have to fight?"

"The names are chosen at random." Hayate stated between coughs. "As was stated earlier this is now about individual ability. Would you two step up."

Sakura and Sasuke both stepped forward. Sasuke had a determined smile on his face while Sakura looked slightly uneasy.

"Now we will begin the first match. Would everyone except the two participants move to the upper level?" Hayate asked.

As Kakashi slowly walked by Sasuke he warned the boy. "Don't use the Sharingan."

"What! Why?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"If the curse on your neck becomes active you might lose your life."

Sasuke paused in surprise. 'Kakashi knows about the curse. But he thinks I have it?' Sasuke spun around to face his sensei. "But I don't have it. Sakura is the one with the bite."

Kakashi stumbled mid-step in shock and looked across at the girl. His one visible eye widening. "Sakura?"

Sakura felt her hand automatically touch the small black spot. 'Curse? Great another one.' She paused frowning. 'What do I mean _another_ one?'

"Is this true?" Kakashi was stunned. 'Of all people Sakura is the last I would have thought capable of surviving something like that.'

"Yeah, I think. I got it under control tho'." She warily told the one-eyed ninja who she did not recognise. Kakashi stared at the girl looking her over for signs of the curse. She appeared normal and he nodded to her.

"Be careful, if it looks like it is activating I will step in and stop the match."

"Who?" Sakura asked Sasuke as she examined the man walking away from them.

"That's Kakashi-sensei, our sensei and team leader. You need to tell him everything once I win this fight." Sasuke smirked confidently.

"You what?" Sakura asked cocking her head slightly.

"Since you woke up I've been wanting to see what the new you can do Sakura, so I'm not going to go easy on you even if we're team-mates." Sasuke stated.

"Good. If ya thought about going easy on me I'd just kick your butt inta next week." Sakura grinned back at the boy suddenly feeling more in her element.

Hayate stepped up to the pair. "Are you ready?"

At their nods he signalled the start of the match. "Begin!"

Sasuke assumed a ready stance feet placed for perfect balance and ready to move, while Sakura just stood there hands behind her back looking innocent. Sasuke waited for her to assume a ready stance. He waited a little more.

"Erm, Sakura we're beginning." He stated growing aspirated.

"Yep." The girl smiled eyes closed in a similar manner to Kakashi.

x X x

Above the standoff Kakashi watched two of his team members face off against each other with concern. What had been assumed by Anko and the Hokage was not correct. They thought Sasuke was the one being targeted by Orochimaru, yet Sakura was the one with the cursed seal. What was the snake Sannin playing at? Why was he after Sakura? He would need to inform the Hokage as soon as he was able to, but he needed to ensure Sakura was fine first.

Kakashi was so caught up in this puzzle that he did not notice Maito Gai till the aforementioned bowlcut bearing Jounin slapped him on his back.

"Kakashi my rival." He stated. "Your dedication to training your students is an inspiration to me!"

Kakashi coughed slightly after being slapped by Gai, it was bad enough being hit by the self proclaimed Green Beast when you were expecting it but caught unawares...

"What do you mean?" Kakashi groaned rubbing between his shoulders.

"You have trained the Konoha Blossom of your team so well she is even pulling off your indifferent coolness better than yourself! It is the greatest proof of the passion of youth for a student to surpass their sensei!" Gai proclaimed with a nice-guy pose, one thumb raised and a sparkle off his extra white teeth.

"Gai, for once please make sense." Kakashi frowned while watching below. So far the two had not attacked, although Sasuke was starting to look annoyed towards Sakura who was yet to get ready.

"Yosh! That is just what I expected from your coolness. To pretend he does not see the amazing skill his student has. She has the extra hard art of total defence down to a tee! Her stance looks completely open to a normal observer and even to most jounin, but it is a trick." Gai stated pointing at Sakura drawing attention from Gara at the words total defence.

"What?" Kakashi asked. If Gai was praising a stance it must be good. He decided to pay attention to the Green Beast for once.

"Despite her seemingly obliviousness she is ready for anything. It truly is a pleasure to be your rival. I will have to train my team extra hard now just to keep up with your amazing teachings! But that is just another challenge to beat you at my rival!"

"You are saying she is in a stance that is ready for anything but looks completely open?" Kakashi pondered. He did use that trick himself but even to his observant eye Sakura looked open.

"Yes. Oh looks like they are about to begin." Gai stated as Sasuke charged.

x X x

Sasuke stared at Sakura while she smiled at him. 'Is she not taking this serious?' he thought in annoyance. 'Fine if that's her game I'll have make her take me serious.'

Sasuke started the match by charging at the smiling girl as he came into range he threw a quick jab to test her defences. It was not anything flashy and powerful but he intended just to shock her into action not actually end the match.

His fist met nothing and she moved her head and shoulders by just enough to avoid the blow causing Sasuke to pass by her.

'No way.' Sasuke blinked and immediately brought his arm back around in another attempt. Again his fist met zero resistance throwing him slightly off balance. He corrected his balance and spun around to face Sakura almost nose to nose. She was actually inside his defences! Sasuke panicked and back flipped away from her landing lightly. She did not follow.

"Wha?" he breathed in surprise. 'She was inside my defences and had loads of time to hit me. Why didn't she?'

"You know, I thought you were going to be serious about this." Sakura stated a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. "If you're not you'll not even lay a finger on me."

Sasuke blinked and then smiled. "I see, I am going to have to try my best after all."

x X x

In the upper level Gai was still praising Kakashi's training methods.

"Did you see, her footwork was precise. Each movement controlled and smooth enough not to waste too much energy. There's still room for improvement though."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. To him the girl had moved flawlessly and got into Sasuke's defences with amazingly little effort, yet Gai was pointing out that her movement was not smooth enough?

"How do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"Yosh! You obviously spotted the problem and wish to have me prove to you that I am as good as I think you think I am. Am I right?"

"Obviously." Kakashi drawled trying to figure that sentence out.

"Her knowledge of the forms is perfect and her execution of them is good too, however she seems to have not trained hard enough on the execution as much as the knowledge. Her mind knows the moves yet her muscle memory has not completely absorbed the facts." Gai explained. "Am I right rival!"

Kakashi glanced at Gai, one visible eyebrow raised. "So...what you are saying is she's knows the moves but is not pulling them off the correct way?"

"Hahahaa!" Gai laughed manically. "Trying to put words in my mouth eh rival? No she is pulling the moves off the correct way, what I'm saying is she has not practised the moves enough. Imagine if you were injured and had to do no exercise for a couple of months. Now you still know the moves, your body still knows the moves but you would not be able to pull the moves off perfectly anymore as your body's condition would no longer allow for it. At least till you retrain yourself back to your previous level. This is similar, but instead of losing ability she has not trained to perfection in the first place." Gai finished with another nice-guy pose. He would be surprised to find it was actually the first explanation that was true, she knew the moves just her body would not keep up.

x X x

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakura. The stance she was in looked open and bored yet he was sure now he would not manage to actually touch her easily. 'Right, she's being all defensive then letting me attack her and avoiding me. So I'll have to make it hard for her to avoid.'

With a quick flick of his wrist Sasuke sent three shurikens spinning at the girl aimed where he hoped were the places she could dodge to while charging full pelt at her himself. As he came into reach he threw another punch. As he expected she was force to stay in the way of his attack.

Sakura deflected his fist with a palm but he was expecting it and launched his right leg at her face. She deftly blocked the blow but grunted from the impact. Sasuke with his leg still blocked placed one hand on the ground and brought the blocked leg away from her arm downwards and round using gravity to boost his momentum and attempted to swipe her legs out. He spun around far too fast as the girl vanished from view and his blow missed once again. He was sent sprawling, quickly rolling onto his back he saw she was still in the air from jumping over his spinning sweep.

Sasuke just managed to tuck and roll himself backwards into a crouch as Sakura's foot landed where his stomach had been seconds ago with a slap. If he had time Sasuke would of winced at the thought of that blow, but instead he launched himself forward as quickly as he could. His fingers pointed at her throat, his body reacting on instinct. Realising too late if he hit the blow might actually crush Sakura's throat Sasuke attempted to pull his attack.

Stars suddenly exploded in Sasuke's vision, pain blossomed in his chin and felt himself launched backwards. 'What the hell?'

x X x

Kakashi watched worried and impressed as his students started to seriously battle. Sakura avoided the sweeping kick by leaping in the air.

"She's messed up." Kakashi stated as he watched Sasuke recover into a perfect position to attack Sakura.

"No my rival. Sasuke is the one who has messed up. Watch." Gai stated as Sakura bent over backwards placed her hand on the ground in an arch, avoiding Sasuke's fingers and proceed to kick the boy under the chin while he was in mid-attack and using the extra momentum to spin 180 degrees and land on her feet all before Sasuke hit the ground six feet away from her.

x X x

Sakura winched slightly as her back protested about the stretching she had just done. She would of normally have blocked a blow like that, but her previous attempt at blocking Sasuke's kick had made her realise she was no where near strong enough, yet. The boy had some serious power for someone of his size. Another problem was he was probably as fast as her current condition. Luckily she had the edge in skill.

Which was worrying, as the moves she had started using were being remembered only once she had used them. She was pulling moves off before knowing exactly what the move was meant for. What if she pulled off a crippling or worse a killing blow by accident? This was a disaster waiting to happen.

'I guess the best thing to do would be to end this fight quickly and explain everything to that Kakashi guy. He seemed to know about what was done to me.'

Sakura carefully watched as Sasuke picked himself into a kneeling position and rubbed his chin with the back of his arm. 'He looks mad.' she thought.

The anger on Sasuke face vanished as he calmly got to his feet and Sakura got the impression he was going to do something impressive. He suddenly smiled and quickly moved his hands through some symbols.

Sakura blinked as she felt ki and the other power build in the boy in front of herself. As he was building his power up for an attack she decided to try and analyse what the power was.

'It feels...heavier, more substantial than ki? What is it?'

With a cry of "Gokakyu no Jutsu" Sasuke took a deep breath and released the power he had built up. As he exhaled the air in front of his fingertips burst into flame and built into a roaring fireball heading right at her.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. 'Wow! A actual fire-blast attack! Heh no problem I'm fireproof.' She stood her ground calmly but as the fireball got closer and she felt the heat building her mind started racing. 'What the hell am I thinking? How the hell can I be fireproof!'

She realised it was too late to be able to dodge now.

"Oh crap!".

**Wild Cherry Blossom**

Chapter 3 – Sharingan Unleashed

Sasuke stood in the centre of the arena frozen in place as he stared at the raging flames in front of himself, where mere seconds ago had stood his team-mate Sakura. The battle they had been engaged in had been exhilarating and he felt an excitement at facing her as she proved she was not the annoying girl he had previously thought she was. It was the same feeling he had had facing Zabuza and Haku on their first C-rank mission.

She had fought with a skill level he thought only jounin's possessed, easily deflecting, blocking and avoiding even his fastest blows as if she could read his mind. Sakura had even hit him hard enough with a kick to bring stars to his eyes and he realised he had underestimated her once again.

"If you're not going take me seriously, you won't lay a finger on me." She told him and he now realised that it had been no idle boast. So he had quickly decided to up the ante, pulling out one of his more serious moves, the Gokakyu no Jutsu fully expecting the girl to be easily capable of dodging it.

But she had not, and the results were burning in front of him.

"Why didn't you move?" he quietly asked in horror.

x X x

In the upper levels the assembled teams and their sensei were contemplating very similar thoughts.

"Sa…Sakura–chan…" Naruto was in shock at her apparent death. This was pretty much mirrored on most of the other leaf gennins.

Orochimaru, disguised as a leaf chunnin had watched the fight with interest. Up until now it had been dull; neither of the combatants had moved beyond basic taijutsu till Sasuke had used the first ninjutsu and had apparently ended the match in one move. 'I expected a more interesting match from the girl after reading Kabuto's report. However Sasuke is as I had hoped. Willing to go to any lengths to win.'

"We're going to need medically attention quickly." Anko informed the Hokage from their positions above the arena as she reached for her mic.

"That won't be necessary." He spoke calmly causing Anko to pause.

"I…see." Anko stated taking his words to mean the girl was dead.

A puff of smoke lazy drifted from his lips. "No you don't Anko. Believe me if the girl was in danger of dying Hayate would had stepped in by now."

'Now then Sakura, what secrets are you hiding?' the old man thought to himself as he continued to examine the scene below and Kakashi's report which he held in one hand, of the girl's abilities as they contradicted each other.

Kakashi felt an icy cold hand grip his heart, even letting a small piece of it show on his face. He swore. "If she survives she's going to be badly hurt."

Gai was staring into the flames and could make out the girls shape, and she was still standing.

"It is not over Kakashi." Gai stated with a frown. 'She's still standing in that inferno and yet her aura is a strong as ever. How is she doing it?'

Kakashi noted the fact Gai had called him by name and his apparent rival's look of intense concentration, the look he only saw on Gai during a battle and turned back to the scene below.

x X x

Sasuke's eyes went wide as the flames started to die down rapidly revealing Sakura. Her arms crossed in front of her face and body braced the way you would against a strong wind, her clothes slightly singed and steam was rising off her but she appeared unhurt. How ever it was not this fact that caused his surprise, no it was the fact she was glowing with an icy blue fire-like aura. He could feel the heat from his attack being sucked out of the air as the temperature around the girl plummeted. Icy vapours began gathering and lazily floating by her feet.

As Sasuke watched the girl slowly lowered her arms so that her eyes were visible. Instead of her usual bright green eyes they were an intense icy-blue and she did not look happy.

"You tried to kill me." Sakura stated simply, each word short and precise. Sasuke took an involuntary step back at the complete lack of emotion in the tone. Chills ran down his spine and he was not sure if it was from her voice or the sudden temperature drop in the arena.

x X x

Back on the upper levels Kakashi let out a breath he had not realised he was holding and relaxed slightly. However his concern now switched to another nasty thought. 'Is that the curse?' A quick scan of Sakura's neck showed the small black spot he was worried about was still just that, a small spot. 'So it's not active…but that power she is using is not normal.'

He looked over at Gai and the two of them nodded and turned their attention to Neji on Gai's team. The Hyuga boy had already activated his bloodline ability, the Byakugan. It was a technique that allowed him to see through anything within a 360 degree range, even being capable of seeing chakra flows inside a person's body. He was staring intensely at the girl.

"What do you see Neji?" Gai asked his pupil.

"She…she's layered chakra I think, all over her body." Neji stated with a frown. "No that's not all; she seems to have layered it internally and externally! I cannot even make out her chakra coils anymore…it's insane."

"So that aura of hers is…recomposed chakra." Kakashi surmised trying to take what he knew from his own chakra recomposition technique chidori and match it to what Sakura was doing with her chakra.

Neji blinked at the man in surprise. "You can see her aura?"

Kakashi nodded. "I think everyone can. It's very visible."

Neji disabled his Byakugan and swore in surprise. They were right; her aura was visible even without the use of the Byakugan. 'How was she doing this?' Neji had to know and reactived the Byakugan once more. Taking a deeper look at the girl's aura he noticed she actually was not using the full form of chakra.

"Her chakra is not normal." Neji stated drawing attention back to him. "She's using only one part of chakra…it is unmixed raw spiritual energy that she is putting out."

There was a short silence before Kakashi asked. "Is that even possible?"

x X x

Orochimaru was excited; he had even stepped away from the wall to gain a better view of the proceedings. The dull match had taken a very interesting turn as the girl had basically blocked the fireball with her chakra alone and was now exuding a small but visible and tightly controlled aura of power, and as by Kabuto's report was doing all this without the curse seal even twitching.

Getting hold of this girl and discovering her secrets sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine. His attention was drawn to the Gaara boy suddenly as he started shaking and holding his head.

"Gaara?" Temari asked frightened. Whenever Gaara started acting like this, usually it would mean lots of deaths. They could not afford him to go on a berserk killing spree at the moment. "What is it?"

"Mother's frightened." He whispered.

Temari and Kankuro paled. Something had frightened the demon inside Gaara?

"The horse has returned to finish the last of us." He whispered before straightening up. "Yes, yes. Hide and wait."

"Gaara?" Temari asked again and flinched when the boy turned his dark eyed stare at her. "It is nothing."

Orochimaru watched the scene with interest. 'Could that be it? The girl was host for another demon like Gaara and Naruto? The horse? I have not heard of a horse tailed beast, I will have to investigate this further. This gets more interesting all the time.'

x X x

Back in the arena Sasuke nervously watched the glowing girl as she lowered her arms to her sides and seemed to relax. The aura still flickered around her but with less intensity.

"Sakura?" Sasuke flinched when she looked at him with those blue emotionless eyes.

"You would use deadly force against a friend huh." She stated.

"I thought you..."

"Shut up." Sakura snapped silencing Sasuke. "Friends don't try to kill one another. I learned that lesson the hard way. So that means we must not; cannot be friends."

Sasuke blinked in confusion at her words. "What?"

"So I won't feel guilty 'bout teaching you a lesson by beatin' ya to an inch of your life boy."

Sasuke stared. The girl looked like Sakura and her voice was the same but the tone and language were not the Sakura he knew and he suddenly realised the amnesia was more than just a simple loss of memory.

"Who are you really?" Sasuke asked the girl who looked thoughtful at that question.

"I honestly don't know right now, but that's not something ya need to think 'bout at the moment." She stated before pointing at him. "No more Mr. Niceguy, you are going down."

Sasuke had a moment to prepare as the girl moved into a ready stance for the first time of the match before she vanished.

"Wha?" Sasuke gasped as a freezing cold knee slammed into his gut knocking the air from his lungs and lifting him onto the tips of his toes. Before he could react the girl sent a chop to the back of his neck sending him headfirst onto the ground. The chop itself was not very hard but the accompanying coldness left his neck stiff and the white and black speckles in his eyes from banging his head off the ground, even with his forehead protector hurt.

Sasuke groaned as he felt a foot press against his ribs before easily flipping him over onto his back to see Sakura staring down at him dispassionately.

"Nighty night." She stated before bringing a foot down towards Sasuke's face. Sasuke was nothing if not resilient and managed to bring his arms up in time to cross them in front of his face stopping the girl's attempted face stomp.

He grunted, not from the impact which was surprisingly light but again from the cold aura, his forearms felt like they were blocking a lump of ice.

'She's seriously trying to hurt me now.' Sasuke panicked and performed the seals once again for the Gokakyu no Jutsu. This time the girl leapt away as the flames exploded where her head had been seconds ago.

Sasuke leapt to his feet and found the girl had vanished but the sudden appearance of intense cold behind him told him she had gotten around him.

He managed to turn his head slightly before a fist slammed into his cheek sending his head the other way. This was followed by another from a different direction and then another. Sasuke found himself being knocked in all directions one after another by unseen blows.

x X x

Kakashi watched in shock as Sakura began to demolish Sasuke. That was the only way Kakashi could describe it. The boy's defences were completely gone now and he assumed the only reason he was standing at all was she would not let him fall. He had trouble making out her movements. They were that fast he felt himself reaching for his headband revealing his Sharingan eye.

With the Sharingan Kakashi could now see the girl's movements. He noted he was correct in what he had assumed, each time Sasuke went to fall over she would knock him in the reverse direction. She was that fast and brutal. The girl that always took Sasuke's side and was a total fangirl was now beating said boy viciously! Even with the cursed seal Kakashi was sure she would not have such a total personality shift.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said not looking at the boy. "Did anything unusual happen to Sakura in the forest?"

Naruto who had been cheering on Sakura paused. "What do you mean?"

"This is important, that girl there can't be the Sakura we know. Did anything happen in the forest?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say about the dream with Kyuubi but paused. He noticed all eyes were on him and for once in his life he did not want the attention. He especially did not want his peers to know he was the vessel of Kyuubi.

"She, err said she had…amnesia." He stuttered lamely.

Kakashi felt his normal eye twitch. That was the most obvious cover for someone to insert a spy or assassin into the exam, only a complete idiot...of course only Naruto would have fallen for something like that, but Sasuke as well? He knew from the reports that Orochimaru was nearby. He also knew that Orochimaru wanted Sasuke and putting two and two together he arrived at the obvious answer. Shame he was actually wrong for once.

"I'm going to stop the match." Kakashi growled but before he could there was a collective gasp which drew his attention back to the arena. His eyes did widen in surprise though.

x X x

Sasuke frantically thought for some way to get out of this situation. The girl kept hitting him far too fast to see. One second in front then behind. He tried to block but she hit him with an attack that went through his defences. Thankfully her blows weren't too powerful but the coldness was seeping into his muscles, numbing and slowing him down.

'I need a counter, but I can't see…her…' Sasuke thoughts trailed off as he swore to himself. 'Idiot! I do have the perfect counter.'

With a moment of concentration he activated his Sharingan. To Sasuke time seemed to slow down and as Sakura came into focus her fist connected once again, but now he could see her and thankfully he knew she had not realised that fact yet.

'I can see it now.' Sasuke thought watching the girl start to throw another punch. 'She's faster than me but I can plan for her attacks now. There!'

With a minor adjustment Sasuke caught the girl's right fist in the palm of his left hand and gripped down. As Sasuke steadied himself Sakura's face showed her surprise and her cold aura vanished bringing the beating to a halt.

"What the?" She blinked before narrowing her eyes at noticing Sasuke's now blood-red ones with two tomoe each.

"You noticed then." Sasuke stated keeping tight hold of the girls hand as she attempted to yank it from his grip. Sasuke smirked as he realised he had her; she was not as psychically strong as he was.

Sakura growled before throwing her left hand at Sasuke who lazily caught that one too. Now the pair were locked together arms crossed over each other, Sasuke smirking while Sakura glared.

Sakura tried pushing the boy away but he held his ground and she cursed her body's current lack of strength. 'I'm gonna need some serious training to get back in shape.'

"How did you suddenly get so fast?" she growled still pushing. She had not sensed any extra ki being moved to Sasuke's arms.

"I activated my bloodline limit." At her lack of comprehension he continued. "The Sharingan allows me to see your attacks no matter how fast you are, which gives me plenty of time to setup my blocks or counters in advance."

"Copy wheel eye?" Sakura frowned.

"Yes and its true power is I can see and instantly memorise any attack." Sasuke smirked evilly and used Sakura's own words. "You're going down."

"Bastard." She shouted suddenly tensing her legs before leaping forward. Due to their positions this caused her to arc above Sasuke's head and dragged both their arms with her. Sasuke blinked in surprise as he felt his shoulders tighten and realised if he kept hold one or both of their shoulders would be dislocated if she passed behind his head.

With as much force as he could he yanked their arms apart and let go sending the girl above him into a corkscrew spin.

'She would of sacrificed one or both her arms to get out of that hold?' Sasuke was surprised at the thought of Sakura willingly subjecting herself to pain to escape a hold. 'Not bad, but now you're completely vulnerable in the air like that.'

Sasuke grabbed his kunai and threw it at her legs. If she could not run around he would have won by default. However the girl seemed to do the impossible and halted the corkscrew, twisted and avoided the thrown weapon and still managed to lash a kick towards his face which Sasuke narrowly avoided. 'She's damned sneaky.'

Sakura landed and immediately launched into an amazing quickly series of blows and even though Sasuke avoided or blocked them he was forced to step backwards.

'Let's see how you like your own combo then.' Sasuke thought to himself confidently before he copied her pattern of attacks perfectly thanks to his Sharingan. Sakura was forced to block and dodge her own attacks and glared at Sasuke as she recognised her own attacks while the boy forced her give up the ground she had won earlier.

'Now I know the counters to that pattern Sakura. What will you do now?' Sasuke smirked and noticed her face darken. 'She's getting mad, that means she'll get sloppy now.'

"Take this!" Sakura shouted as she attacked faster this time and with a completely different set of moves. Sasuke was impressed. 'She knows a heck of a lot of moves. Heh, this is ticking her off me copying her moves.'

Sasuke waited for an opening before playing back the girl's own attack once more. As before she was forced to dodge but as a punch passed by her face a sinister smirk appeared on her lips causing Sasuke to wonder what she was going to do.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" The girl announced and threw an attack that even Sasuke's Sharingan eyes had trouble following. He had a second to realise that the blow had landed and winched from the jab to his gut, the surprise making him stumble backwards.

"What?" Sasuke blinked at the now smirking girl. "You got past my defences…again?" Sasuke paused. "Heh, too bad you can't hit very hard eh?"

"Wait for it." Sakura smiled.

"Wha…arrgh!" Sasuke suddenly collapsed to his knees as the pain from an unknown amount of blows in one spot finally registered in his brain. Clutching his stomach he rocked back and forth for a couple of seconds before getting enough control back to glare angrily up at the girl.

"H…how?" Sasuke wheezed.

"How'd I hit ya?" she chuckled. "Simple really, once you explained what your eyes did and my test proved it, I used your overconfidence in that Sharingan trick against you. You blindly copied my moves so I set ya up, making sure to use a bunch of moves that would be vulnerable to my counterattack. Any old monkey can copy a move." Sakura finished with an insult.

Sasuke glared slowly climbing to his feet. 'Damn that hurts.' He winced, gingerly feeling the damaged area. As he did so he noticed a bead of sweat rolling down the side of Sakura's flushed face, and that she was holding one arm loosely.

"Heh." Sasuke smirked at seeing she was tired from that move and some of his confidence returned. "But it seems that attack took a lot outta you. I doubt you can pull another one off and no way will I fall for the same trick twice."

"Resilient bastard." Sakura growled as Sasuke prepared to face off against her again. "Fine!" Sakura stated. "If you're not going to stay down then this time I will make sure you can't get back up!"

"Bring it on little girl." Sasuke stated using Lee's stance.

Sakura bristled at the comment but calmed herself down. 'I'm too tired now for the Amaguriken that I just remembered and even if I could he's too tough for me to take down with it yet. He can copy my moves so he might even be able to use the Amaguriken against me now. I need to keep my distance but still take him out fast. How?'

'She must be trying to think of another way to get past the Sharingan.' Sasuke thought as he watched the girls face intently, his Sharingan picking up minute traces of different emotions flickering across Sakura's face. He noticed her eyes widen slightly and she smiled.

'I guess she's thought of something.' Sasuke mentally frowned. 'What will she do?'

He was answered by the cold aura springing up around her once more emptying her features of any remaining traces of emotion.

'So that aura allows her to suppress emotions enough that the Sharingan can't read her movements as well.' Sasuke surmised as he noted she seemed a bit harder to read now. 'That still won't defeat the Sharingan though.'

"Okay copy monkey, lets see if what you've learn from me is any help to ya." Sakura stated.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Why don't you come over here and find out."

Sakura laughed. "Ha. If you don't go all out this time you won't even touch me."

"Fine." Sasuke stated before charging the girl. "If you want it, you'll get it."

His first blow missed as the she dodged backwards, his Sharingan actual missed her slight movement. However Sasuke kept up and with each attack he was getting closer and closer to hitting her as the Sharingan began to see her subtle hints.

'Damn I can't complete this without him tagging me.' Sakura rapidly thought. 'I hope it's enough revolutions.'

Sasuke would of saw the attack miles away even without the Sharingan and stopped moving. Sakura's fist swept by his nose within less than an inch and he was about to say something cocky when the air around him began to feel weird. The Sharingan picked up the subtle flows of air as it began to ripple around them.

"What?" Sasuke asked as Sakura's face went from confident to a 'what the hell?' expression as a wind started to encircle the two fighters. The wind began picking up speed and soon Sasuke found himself forced to blink dust out of his eyes as dust and minute particles of the stone floor shifted around them. The air pressure began increasing and the wind pickup even more speed before suddenly Sasuke found himself dragged up and away as what appeared to be a tornado sprang up around him.

Sakura knew something was wrong the moment the air flows began, the pressure around them had increased dramatically and was not what she had been remembering about this attack. Soon Sasuke was swept away by the ki produced tornado as was normal but it was still wrong. Normally the attack produced the tornado immediately but this time it started slowly as if the air was too heavy to move properly, but now it continued to pickup speed and power.

As she held her ground in the eye of the storm she saw it was darkening rapidly like thunder clouds and not the clear ki and dirt storm that was usual. With a crack the ground around her fractured as she felt the pressure inside increase.

'What's going on!?' She began to panic. 'It's still building up strength!' There was a large boom that sounded suspiciously like thunder but she could not be sure as most of her concentration was in trying to control this attack gone awry. 'The heavy energy!' she realised. 'Sasuke was full of that other energy as well as ki it has to be that that's causing this!' She could feel the tornado was now sucking at her own energy instead of just Sasuke's. 'Shit! Gotta cancel it before it gets worse!'

x X x

Outside the tornado people were panicking as much as Sakura was. The tornado had sprung up and quickly reached all the way to the ceiling. Within seconds anything not securely tied down had been forcefully dragged into the raging maelstrom as it continued to gain power. Soon the observers were forced to brace themselves against the winds.

What had appeared to be a bolt of lighting lanced out and shattered the hand seal statue at the far end of the arena. The huge carved hand fell to the ground with a resounding boom and any loose bits of stone were rapidly sucked into the tornado.

"Get everyone out of here!" Kakashi shouted over the winds but he doubted anyone heard him. He found himself starting to be dragged and immediately used his chakra to anchor his feet to the ground.

As suddenly as it began the storm abated, leaving a stunned audience to watch Sasuke fall from the ceiling that he must have been pinned against. Kakashi's eyes went wide, the boy was out cold and a fall from that height would more than likely kill him.

Sakura suddenly appeared in Sasuke's path and caught the boy before they both dropped to the ground. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Sakura hold Sasuke for a few seconds before dropping to her knees. Sasuke was deposited unceremoniously on the ground before Sakura herself collapsed on top of the boy.

A stunned silence reigned in the building at the display of power the two children had shown and Hayate had crawled out from where ever he had taken cover and hurriedly checked the two gennins. Kakashi had leapt over the railings and rushed over.

Hayate stood up and announced the outcome. "Both Sakura and Sasuke are knocked out. I cough proclaim this match a draw."

Hayate turned to Kakashi. "I expected to be impressed by your team but this..." he shook his head.

Kakashi just 'hmmm'd' and proceeded to check his students. "They seem to have drained of chakra." he said in surprise. Sasuke looked the worst off with cuts and bruises but Kakashi could tell they were only superficial. "It seems that attack was not as damaging as it was spectacular."

Anko's voice was heard over the loud speakers. "Get a cleanup crew down there quickly or else we wont be having anymore matches!"

x X x

Back on the upper levels Orochimaru was drooling, yes actually drooling. He licked his lips. Never before had he seen such a display of power and skill from gennin as young as these two. Oh sure he had seen plenty of more powerful techniques and such from more advanced ninja, but he could only begin to imagine the power these two would be wielding once they matured.

'I must have you Sasuke your body will be mine. And Sakura, what is the secret of your power? To actually defeat the Sharingan I must know.'

x X x

"Did you see that?" Temari asked Kankuro her voice slightly shaky.

"Yeah." Kankuro replied shifting the bundle on his back before looking over at Gaara who stood calm and collected, arms crossed in his usual pose. "Hey Gaara! Gaara you can beat him right?"

The red haired dark eyed boy looked at them though the corner of his eye. "He is strong."

"Sasuke? What about the girl?"

"He is strong." Gaara stated simply looking away.

The two Sandnins looked at each other and Kankuro shrugged.

"Guess we wont get anymore outta him."

x X x

Naruto was hoping from foot to foot as he watched Kakashi carry his team-mates across the arena. He need to know if they were alright, especially Sakura-chan. Shadows fell across him and he felt a chill. Uh ho.

"Naruto." a voice asked. Naruto recognised it as Shikamaru's and turned to face him, as well as the others of the rookie nine. They all where looking on with serious expressions, except for Shino his face did not seem to show expressions.

"Eh?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly what kind of training did you guys do?"

Naruto paused. "Well, Kakashi made us fight him the first day for dinner and we had to do tree climbing with just chakra once."

A few glances were exchanged and thoughts went along the lines of 'Kakashi was fighting them from the first day?'. Most of them knew the tree climbing exercise as it was a good one for building chakra control.

Shikamaru frowned. 'Nothing too weird.'

"How'd Sasuke and Sakura get so good?"

"Eh? Sasuke good? Heh I can beat him." Naruto puffed up.

"Right deadlast." Kiba snarled.

"I can too. Who do you think saved Sasuke's butt on our first proper mission eh?"

"Pull the other one loser." Kiba laughed as Naruto's expression turned dark.

"It's true you know." Kakashi stated as he stopped by Naruto with Sasuke and Sakura draped over his shoulders.

"Eh? Kakashi-sensei! Are they okay?" Naruto asked bouncing.

"They're fine, just a slight case of chakra depletion. If it had been you facing Sakura in that attack I would think Sakura would have passed out long before yourself. You are a bit of a stamina monster." Kakashi stated looking serious. After all he was a bit of a prankster at heart and this was too good of an opportunity for some fun, besides it probably was true. He smirked behind his mask as the entire group took a step away from the orange clad boy. A couple were seen gulping.

"Naruto, don't maim anyone too much in your match." Kakashi smiled and waved as he walked off. 'I'm just too evil.'

Naruto saluted Kakashi with a huge grin on his face.

x X x

Sakura blinked her eyes confused and looked around. She was stood in a plain white room, it was fairly large and featureless aside from a small open doorway in the distance.

"Hey." a voice called out making her shriek and leap into the air coming to land in an attacking stance.

"Wha..." the question died in her throat as she came face to face with herself? Sakura shakily pointed at her Doppelganger. "Eh? Eh? Eh?"

"Didn't ya mom tell ya its rude ta point?" 'Sakura' asked head tilted.

"Who the HECK are you?" screamed Sakura.

'Sakura' flinched before twisting a finger in one of her ears. "Man, you're loud. I've got a good pair of lungs." she finished with a smile.

Sakura had had enough and lunged for the other her and missed completely as the copy dodged nimbly out of the way.

"Hey hey calm down, I'm as confused as ya'self." 'Sakura' said making warding gestures.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sakura asked calming down, she needed to think.

"I'm Sakura, I think." 'Sakura' frowned. "Last thing I remember was fighting with Sasuke in the prelims."

"WHAAAAAT! Fighting Sasuke-kun! Why you little trollop!" Sakura was once again swinging mad punches and 'Sakura' was dodging them.

"Geez calm down you uncute tomboy!"

"Tomboy? I'll kill you you you copy!"

"WILL YOU BOTH SHUTUP!!" a booming voice shouted causing both girls to 'eep' and clutch each other in terror at the powerful aura of killing intent. They stared up at a huge inverted Sakura who looked extra mean. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!"

"Yes ma'am!" 'Sakura' said as the giant eyeballed them evilly before disappearing.

x X x

As Kakashi finished laying Sasuke and Sakura on the beds in the small surgery that was situated in the tower incase of actual emergencies the Hokage walked in, puffing on his pipe.

"Kakashi." the Hokage nodded while walking up to the two sleeping gennins. "Would you explain?"

Kakashi sighed. "I don't know the full story yet but I've gotten the general gist."

The Hokage looked the copy-ninja in his visible eye. "Tell me what you do know."

"We all assumed Orochimaru was here for Sasuke."

"That is our guess. He did tell Anko himself that fact."

"We may have been misled." Kakashi paused letting the Hokage digest this fact.

"The girl?"

"Yes, she bears the cursed seal."

The Hokage's shoulders sagged and for the first time Kakashi thought he looked old. The old man walked over to Sakura's bed and checked the girls neck. He frowned at the small black spot situated just at the base of her neck.

"This does not look like the normal cursed seal." the Hokage stated with a frown.

"I know. 'Sakura' told me she had it under control, but after that battle...also I believe Naruto knows something more than he's letting on." Kakashi took the Hokage's silence as a signal to continue. "He told me that Sakura claimed to have amnesia. My first thoughts were a planted spy or assassin. However..."

"However?" the Hokage asked taking a draw on his pipe.

"However after I've examined her that girl is the real Sakura physically. But mentally?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "That was _not_ Sakura fighting in the arena."

"A possession jutsu? Or even...kami!" the Hokage trailed off at the thought of Orochimaru could had taken the girl's body himself, that man was sick enough to do something like that.

"Kakashi do not let them out of your sight. I will be posting a full ANBU guard on this room as well. No one is to come or go without me with them. Anyone who does you have permission to use any means necessary to keep them away." the Hokage ordered suddenly looking every inch the leader again.

"Understood Hokage-sama." Kakashi told him.

x X x

"So?" asked 'Sakura' quietly as to not disturb the giant. Strangely enough a large 'Do not Disturb Ever!' sign had appeared on one of the walls.

"So?" Sakura asked back.

"Which of use is the real Sakura?"

The two girls studied each other before Sakura snapped her fingers.

"Ha!"

"Ha!" 'Sakura' copied before looking confused. "Ha what exactly?"

"I knew something about you was bugging me apart from the obvious fact that you exist."

"Gee ya know how to make me feel welcome."

Sakura grinned triumphantly. "Your eyes are the wrong colour! My eyes are green your's are blue. That makes me the real Sakura!"

"Nice detective work. So if you are the real Sakura who am I?"

"A figment of my imagination." Sakura hoped.

The blue-eyed Sakura sighed. "One heck of an imagination to be able to beat up your boyfriend."

Sakura glared at the copy. Oh she'd so wanted to throttle the girl for hurting Sasuke."What's the first thing you remember?"

"That thing." 'Sakura' pointed at the large sealed door at the back of the room. It was a plain wooden door unadorned aside from a thick piece of wood holding the door firmly closed. Up by the top of the door was a small black object that pulsed regularly. It was embedded in the door and a tiny crack in the wood lead away from the black spot.

"What is it?" Sakura asked repulsed just watching it sitting like a leech sucking blood.

"A cursed seal apparently." 'Sakura' shrugged. "That thing was attacking me so I kicked its ass easily and poof I woke up in that forest. I then kicked butt and saved ya boyfriend."

"So how did you get back here?"

"My guess is we're unconscious. See that passage I have a feeling that leads back to the real world."

"What makes you think that?" Sakura asked?

"Oh come on. One this is obviously all in our head. Two I'm always right!"

'So annoying!' Sakura thought angrily. 'She's like a girl Naruto.'

"I'm not like Naruto at all! I have better dress sense."

"You you you heard my thoughts!" Sakura pointed.

"Well duh, you actually think we're talking in here? Ya think thats air you're breathing?"

"You are sooooo annoying."

"You are aren't you." 'Sakura' said sticking her tongue out.

The two sat in silence one with a cheesy smile on her face and hands crossed behind her head the other with a clenched fist and grinding teeth.

"So what should I call you, cause I'm not going to call you Sakura." Sakura finally gave up grinding and asked.

"Dunno. Hmm Kyuubi called me Godslayer or Wild Horse."

"KYUUBI! THE KYUUBI!" Sakura shouted "The ninetailed monster fox that nearly destroy our village years ago! What the heck do you mean called you names! You. Are. Mad! Help I'm trapped in my own mind with a mad woman!"

"Will you quiet down!" 'Sakura' hissed. "We don't want her giantness to wake up do we?"

"Oops." Sakura glanced around and sighed as there was no sign of Inner Sakura.

"Anyway for a name, I don't like Godslayer sounds like a death metal band."

"A what?" Sakura asked not knowing what she meant.

"You know I don't know what I mean, memories are all weird."

"You are weird." Sakura dead-panned.

"Humpf! Anyway so I guess I'll go for Wild Horse."

"Ranma then?"

"Yeah sounds good to me. Hi I'm Ranma want ta be friends?"

End Chapter 3

Authors notes :D

Wooo that fight was actually fun to write and I hope I didn't over power either of the two. It's now official, Sakura is Sakura when her eyes are green and they will change to blue when Ranma's is in control. I think I'll call this Schzio-jutsu :P

How do the Biji's (hehe beegees) know Ranma? All will be revealed in time :D

Scarily these chapters have been knocked out at one a day, but thats probably because I had this far pretty well planned out in advance, the next bits I'm not quite sure how to go. So expect updates to be slower from now on. I'll try to keep things different (if only slightly) to the hoards of fanfics I read myself.

Wild Cherry Blossom Chapter 4 – Decisions, Decisions

"Long time no see, Kakashi-kun." A hoarse voice spoke-up in the tiny surgery causing Kakashi to spin around into an attacking stance.

'Who the heck managed to sneak in here?' Kakashi thought worriedly. The man standing at Sakura's bedside hands in his pockets was unfamiliar in appearance, but that voice Kakashi recognised.

"Orochimaru…" Kakashi guessed.

"I'm sorry I'm not here to see you Kakashi-kun." Orochimaru told him as he stroked Sakura's brow almost lovingly. He looked up at Kakashi and smiled.

"What do you want with Sakura?" demanded the copy-ninja bracing himself for anything. Orochimaru was dangerous, probably far beyond Kakashi himself.

"This girl? Nothing till she got in the way." The snake sannin grinned before continuing. "Heh, you are lucky. You've already got your hands on it."

Kakashi glared confused. 'What is he talking about?'

"You didn't use to have. Did you?" Orochimaru's face turned nasty "That Sharingan in your left eye! I also want it. The Uchiha blood, I'm here for the boy behind you."

Kakashi was now confused. "Then why have you marked Sakura?"

Orochimaru chuckled in amusement.

"Answer me!" Kakashi shouted his nerves fraying at the situation.

"I told you already she got in the way. An accident, she surprised me by overcoming her fear and saving poor Sasuke from my bite, too bad for her it was too late for me to stop and well the rest is history as they say." Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders. "She surprised me again by surviving. I was so sure she'd be dead that I did not even bother to hang around. I wish I had now it would have been interesting to see what I assume is a Bloodline awakening."

Kakashi blinked in surprise. 'We didn't think of that at all.'

"Oh come now Kakashi-kun, surely you noticed the girl has changed completely. She has become impressive enough to figure out a way to defeat an unaware Sharingan user in such a short time. That kind of growth is not possible without some kind of bloodline."

Kakashi growled. "Even if you are one of those three I will kill you if you try anything."

"Really?" Orochimaru laughed before Kakashi felt his head separate from his body. What felt like hours but must have only been seconds Kakashi managed to snap back to the real world.

'Genjutsu!' Kakashi shook from the fake death experience but thankfully Orochimaru had vanished, though his voice echoed around the room.

"I'll come back for them later, once they mature some more. Train them well for me Kakashi-kun."

x X x

Within the plain white area that seemed to make up Sakura's mind sat two almost identical girls. Sakura and Ranma had spent the last while checking the room out, looking for ways to get out. The most obvious way was the huge barred door, unfortunately neither of them could move the wooden bar holding the door shut.

Next, they had attempted to open the smaller door at the opposite side. It did not push open, nor could they get their fingers between it to and pull it open.

Giving up for now they had returned to the centre of the room and were talking, trying to figure out where Ranma had came from. They decided it was something to do with the cursed seal, which in the room was a small black leech embedded in the big door near the top.

"So maybe I'm behind the door and slowly leaking out the crack." Ranma proposed as she began to braid her hair.

"I don't know, it sounds really weird. Why would I have a locked door in my head anyway with a weirdo behind it?" Sakura asked.

"I'm soooo happy to know what you think of me." Ranma grumbled as she finished with tying up the pigtail she had just made. The now pigtailed girl smiled and flipped it over her shoulder. "Ahhh that feels more comfortable."

Sakura grimaced. "It makes you look like a kid."

Ranma snorted as she stood up. "You're twelve years old."

"I'm a gennin, that means I'm an adult in the eyes of village." Sakura stated snottily. "Besides you need talk you're the same as me."

"Nah, I'm older, much older…" Ranma stated with a faraway look in her eyes. "Don't remember how much tho might just be a couple of years for all I know…Well, seeing as there seems ta be no way out yet why don't we spar for a bit?" Ranma asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Eh? Why?" Sakura asked with a worried look at the grinning blue-eyed pigtailed version of herself.

"I'm bored, why else?" Ranma stated before leaning over Sakura the shadows that crossed her face gave it a demonic appearance. "B'sides we should take every opportunity given'ta us to train."

"You are obsessed." Sakura groaned. Ranma's face dropped before a nasty smirked appeared on her lips and she went into 'evil sensei will motivate lazy student mode'.

"Obsessed is what the lazy call the dedicated!" Ranma stated. "Woe is me! To be saddled with such an ungrateful spoiled brat. You wound me deeply, but…as I know the path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril I will still try ta offer my wisdom in the ways of a martial artist to ungrateful chil…dren…?"

Ranma stopped mid-rant as she noticed little zee's had began floating above Sakura's drooping head. Ranma's left eye twitched slightly before shrugging it off.

"Feh that never worked on me either." A downright evil grin spread across Ranma's features and a bucket of freezing cold water appeared in her hands surprising the girl. "Oooh convenient! Heh, heh, heh, but this always did."

x X x

Inside the small infirmary, Kakashi was now seen reclining in a small plastic chair that he had pulled into the middle of the room between the beds that Sasuke and Sakura lay on. He had his favourite book 'Icha Icha Paradise' open and appeared to be reading it; he was however deep in thought.

Orochimaru's appearance had shaken the copycat-ninja, the snake sannin was everything he had been told and Kakashi knew at this moment in time he would not have stood a chance against him. Thankfully, he had left without attempting to take either of Kakashi's students claiming he was waiting for them to mature.

His visible eye flickered over to Sasuke. The boy was Orochimaru's target after all or more precisely the boy's Sharingan. Orochimaru was obsessed with gaining power by any means and learning as many jutsus, forbidden or otherwise as possible. Gaining the Sharingan's ability to copy jutsu's just by watching them was the obvious reason for Orochimaru going after Sasuke. It was after all the ultimate shortcut to power.

How would he be able to train Sasuke and himself to a great enough level to be able to if not hold their own than at least to be able to defend themselves from Orochimaru? Not only that but he had Sakura and Naruto to look after as well.

A light burst of killer intent from Sakura drew his eye quickly to the girl and his body tensed ready for anything. The girl started to shiver and then thrash a little, her eyes moving rapidly under her eyelids and expressions of anger and amusement flickered rapidly across her face.

Kakashi relaxed again. "She must be having an…interesting dream."

Sakura's outburst had now drawn his thoughts to the sleeping girl. During the second test, Orochimaru had confronted team 7 in the forest of death, defeated Naruto before attempting to place the cursed seal upon Sasuke. However, from what Kakashi had gathered from Orochimaru's earlier visit Sakura had overcome her fear at the moment Orochimaru went to place the cursed seal on Sasuke and managed to knock the boy out of harms way. Instead of getting Sasuke, he got Sakura.

For reasons unknown to Kakashi, the cursed seal had reacted strangely to Sakura. Somehow it had been suppressed by the girl herself no less, gave her amnesia, amazing fighting skills and access to pure unmixed chakra.

Kakashi closed his book with a light snap and stood up, pocketing the book and walked over to the girl's bed to stare down at her. He had seen people with stunted chakra coils before, or people who only had one side they could develop. He would hazard a guess that ninety-nine percent of them would not go on to become ninja, Gai's student Rock Lee was one of the one percent exceptions to that rule.

Having a stunted coil or two meant even the most basic ninja techniques were beyond that persons reach and only pure taijutsus could be used. To be able to cause so much damage with just one-half of chakra, what would she be capable of with the other half? More frightening, what would she be able to do with both parts together?

Thinking of Gai, Kakashi remembered his words on how Sakura had fought. It was obvious now to Kakashi that her body had held the girl back during the match.

'Once she gets her body trained to take that sort of stress she'll be a monster.' Kakashi's eye widened at another thought. 'She was immensely skilled and used a fighting style I am unfamiliar with. If she is as good as I think and if she is friendly and if she was willing to train us, it might give us a trump card to use against Orochimaru.'

He frowned as the elation he felt drained away. 'That is a lot of ifs Kakashi.'

x X x

Back in the arena the preliminaries continued.

Naruto was bouncing with excitement, literally. He was like a little blond and orange grasshopper as he waited patiently (in his own way of course). His high had been brought on by the battle Sakura and Sasuke had taken part in. It had been impressive and he could not wait to show off his own powers now. In addition, Kakashi-sensei had acknowledged he was stronger than Sasuke-bastard. Icing on the cake.

As he bounced past the other leaf gennins with cries of "Is it my turn yet?" a discussion began.

"Does he ever tire? So troublesome." Shikamaru groaned watching the hyperactive blond boy stand on his tiptoes trying to see if his name had appeared on the screen yet.

Choji, the chubby best friend of Shikamaru paused in his nervous snacking. "Their sensei did say he was a monster."

"He does seem rather…energetic for someone who has just spent five days on a survival mission in a forest." Shino stated.

"Did you see how strong forehead was!" Ino shivered. "And Naruto was always stronger than Sakura even if he was useless at stuff."

"Did you hear, they have to fight their sensei everyday before he'll give them dinner!" Choji shuddered at the thought of fighting Asuma for his own food.

"Big deal." Kiba growled, his puppy Akamaru barked in agreement.

"And now the next match!" Anko's voice called out over the speakers.

Everyone looked to the screen that now read Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuki Kiba.

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered leaping onto the railings. "Come on dogface lets go!" He turned too quickly and slipped. Naruto screamed as he fell to the arena floor arms waving in panic all the way down.

Kiba burst out in roaring laughter. "Bahahah! The loser fell!"

The other leaf gennins rushed over to the railings and looked down to see Naruto bounce back to his feet dust himself off and then sprint into the centre of the arena, where he continued his hyperactive bouncing.

"Get ya mangy butt down here doggy breath!" Naruto taunted.

Kiba's face darkened and was about to retort when Shino placed a hand on his shoulder. "I will make preparations to visit you in recovery."

"Waaa?" Kiba blinked at seeing all the worried faces and he grew nervous. Akamaru whined.

"Nice knowing you man." Choji muttered.

"I would quit." Shikamaru stated. "It's too troublesome."

Kiba's pride rose up; there was no way he would be intimidated by 'deadlast'. Shrugging Shino's hand off, he headed towards the stairs.

"I ain't scared of Naruto, he's all talk."

Kiba glared the entire way as he crossed the arena to stop face to face with Naruto. Naruto was grinning confidently ear to ear the entire time. "Al'right!"

"The match is about to begin." Hayate said raising his hand. "Begin!" he stated signalling the match had started.

Kiba leapt away from Naruto expecting the boy to attack right away and was surprised when he did not. Naruto had his head bowed and his shoulders were shaking.

"Hey deadlast you're not scared suddenly?" Kiba taunted taking the shaking for fear.

"Scared?" Naruto stated raising his head with a feral grin. "I'm super excited! I will show my full power in this match!" With that exclamation, the boy placed his legs into a wide and stable stance and brought his hands in front of his face; one hand wrapped around the pointed first two fingers of the other and started focusing his power.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto announced with a roar and suddenly with many popping noises, the arena turned orange. Kiba blanched at the sight, almost every square inch of the arena was covered with Naruto's copies. Hayate found himself sandwiched between Narutos as well, leaving Kiba with the only area with some space around him.

"What?" Kiba spun around in a circle. He was completely surrounded by grinning or glaring Narutos. "No way? You made so many bunshins? Feh, no matter!" Kiba growled. "They're only clones they can't touch me and with my nose I'll be able to smell the real you anyway!"

"You think these are ordinary bunshins?" hundreds of Narutos spoke at once. "Hold 'im guys!"

Kiba had a second to blink before the shadow clones grabbed hold of him. One took hold of Akamaru by the scruff of his neck, snatching him out of Kiba's jacket. Another clone grabbed Kiba in a sleeper hold. Two clones got his arms and another two grabbed the feral boy's legs totally immobilising him.

"What? What the hell?" Kiba howled in confusion. However many hundreds of Naruto clones there were all grinned and spoke in unison.

"And now! I will use the ultimate technique that even dropped the Hokage himself!!"

Up above the arena on his ledge the Hokage dropped his pipe in shock. 'Kami no! Not that one. I'll be the laughing stock of the villages! I have to stop this!'

Anko and the others up there stared in absolute astonishment as the Hokage jumped out of his chair in terror and ran towards the ledge robes billowing behind him.

"Har…" Naruto began to call the name of his technique but was interrupted.

"STOP THE MATCH!!" the angry voice of the Hokage sounded throughout the arena.

"Eh?" the Naruto clones blinked along with everyone else.

"I forbid you from using THAT technique!" The Hokage stated pointing an accusing finger at Naruto, to everybody's astonishment.

"What?" Naruto shouted at the Hokage his fist clenched in anger. "But it's the best one I ever came up with!"

"Enough! From this day forth that technique will be classified as S-Rank forbidden! You will not use it, nor will you speak of it again and if I catch you trying to teach it to anyone I will ban ramen from the village!" The Hokage glared daring the boy to disobey. 'Death threats won't work against Naruto so this is the only way to save my dignity.'

"Noooo! Not ramen!" the Narutos shrieked going pale. "You win old man!"

The Hokage drew a deep breath and glared down one last time. "You may continue the match."

Kiba was sweating bullets. Naruto had been going to use a technique so scary that the Hokage himself had interrupted their match to prevent it from being used! He had even labelled the technique as so forbidden it would not even be wrote down or spoke of! The stunned silence was broken only by Kiba's shouting.

"I give up! I give up!"

x X x

Sasuke groaned as he opened his eyes to harsh white light from the illumination above him. The white ceiling tiles became blocked from view as a familiar masked face popped into view. A single eye regarded him lazily.

"Hmmm, you're finally awake." Kakashi stated while Sasuke raised himself off the bed. Boy did he ache, especially his stomach. He could tell there was good-sized bruise there.

"Where?" Sasuke grimaced swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He noted his legs had a few bruises and abrasions, the worst of which had been patched up.

"The infirmary in the tower. You'll be pleased to know the matches are nearly finished and you've been accepted as the lucky one to get a second shot…if you woke up in time." Kakashi stated observing Sasuke's fists had clenched the bed sheets.

"She…beat me then." Sasuke growled out angrily with his head lowered.

"How can I say this? Hmmm, technically the match was a draw." Kakashi droned as Sasuke's head whipped up in surprise. "However, yes she did beat you but collapsed herself right after. She's still out now so you're probably even." Kakashi finished with a smile in his eye.

Sasuke looked behind his sensei to see Sakura was asleep on the bed across from him. That slender girl over there had beaten him, beaten the Sharingan. Sasuke gritted his teeth. What was the point of the Sharingan if a stupid girl can beat it? He had thought once the Sharingan had appeared he would be unbeatable like Kakashi and more importantly his brother Itachi.

"That's not Sakura. She beat the Sharingan." Sasuke growled.

Kakashi's visible eye became half-lidded as he watched Sasuke beat himself up over his loss at Sakura's hands.

"Sasuke, the Sharingan is a tool. A powerful tool, but a tool nonetheless." He made sure Sasuke was listening before continuing. "And like all tools it is only as strong as the one that wields it. Sakura beat you; because you used the tools, you had the wrong way. I know you're upset, you probably expected the Sharingan to make you unbeatable. Instead of being angry you should try and workout what you did wrong and overcome your weakness that was exploited. The Sharingan will not help you do that."

Kakashi watched Sasuke, hoping the boy would come round but Sasuke's next words chilled him to the bone.

"I need to get stronger, strong enough to avenge my family. If that seal made Sakura that strong then I'm willing to hunt that guy down and get one myself."

x X x

Within Sakura's mind there was an interesting scene going on. A soaked to the bone Sakura was being led on a merry chase around the white featureless landscape as the object of her current ire made faces and threw insults at her.

"Stand still and die!" Sakura screamed.

"Right I'm going ta do that." Ranma chuckled dodging a sloppy grab. She poked Sakura on the back of her head as Sakura passed by sending the pink-haired girl crashing face first onto the ground where she slid a few feet.

"Ouch." Ranma stated looking innocent. "That must hurt."

"Mmmghmghtm." Sakura mumbled through a mouthful of dirt, which roughly translated to I will kill you! Sakura climbed to her feet and checked her face. Aside from being dirty, it did not actually hurt which she was pleased about, but the innocently whistling pigtailed girl was pissing her off something rotten.

"Take this!" Sakura shouted throwing multiple shuriken at Ranma who calmly dodged the lot of them. There were a couple of thunks as the shuriken found themselves embedded in the wooden door behind the pigtailed girl.

Sakura was grinding her teeth again. "Damn she's good!"

"Hey wait up." Ranma said holding a palm up, snapping Sakura out of her imagined revenge. Ranma was examining the shuriken stuck in the door. Choosing one at random, she plucked it out and examined it going as far as to prick her finger on the point.

"They're real." she stated.

"Of course they are idiot." Sakura smiled happily in the fact that Ranma seemed to have turned her back and was ignoring her. Sakura pulled out and three more shuriken and was about to throw them when Ranma threw the one she was holding right at her.

"Ahhh!" Sakura shrieked leaning over backwards to avoid the shuriken, where she unfortunately lent over too far and was deposited onto her head.

"Ow! What did you do that for?" Sakura growled rubbing her head while sitting up.

"How many shuriken have you used?" Ranma asked.

"Seven. Why?" Sakura snarled.

"How many do you have in your pouch?"

Sakura frowned. "What kind of silly question is that?"

"Just check for me." Ranma replied going all mysterious on her. Sakura checked her pouch. It was empty.

"Empty. I've used them all." She sighed getting to her feet.

"Throw one at me from your pouch."

Sakura stared. She stared some more. One eye twitched. "You are stupid like Naruto. None equals zero. No more. Not a single one left. All outta shuriken."

"Just throw one you stupid thick headed large browed uncute tomboy." Ranma insulted Sakura who predictably threw a shuriken, which Ranma caught easily. This instantly snapped Sakura out of her rage.

"What the heck?" She pointed before checking her pouch and finding no shuriken there. Sakura blinked. "Does this mean?"

"Are you thinking what I am?" Ranma asked.

"We can make things appear here. Like that bucket of water you soaked me with." Sakura glared accusingly.

Ranma smirked. "I wonder?" and with a triumphant yell she summoned a mallet. "Heh, I thought so." Ranma swung it a few times before willing it gone. The mallet vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Why a mallet?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure, something about girls having an anti-baka device, and that appeared." Ranma wondered herself. The two girls' thoughts were interrupted by a loud ping and a light appeared above the small far doorway.

"What does that mean?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"Why don'tcha go find out." Ranma absently stated as she began practicing pulling items out of thin air. Sakura watched the pigtailed girl create a shuriken, then a kunai and weirdly a stuffed panda toy. Deciding to leave Ranma to her own devices Sakura walked over towards the smaller doorway. As she came closer, she felt a tug and with a yelp, she found herself dragged into it.

x X x

Sasuke found himself dangling in front of Kakashi as the copy-ninja had him held off the bed and almost nose to nose. Kakashi fixed Sasuke with a look that froze the boy.

"Listen to me Sasuke and listen well. What you just said is tantamount to treason and would get you killed on the spot if someone thought for an instant that you would go to Orochimaru." Kakashi let the boy drop back to the bed and taking a deep breath he continued. "Orochimaru is an S-Rank missing-nin and has on more than one occasion expressed his desire to destroy our village. He is a power hungry monster who desires the Sharingan."

Kakashi's eye softened slightly. "Sasuke, why do you think he is after you? Why do you think he is not going after your brother instead, whose Sharingan is fully developed? Because, he is afraid of your brother."

Kakashi paused, put his hands into his pockets, and assumed a more relaxed posture as Sasuke appeared to be listening.

"How would going to Orochimaru, who is afraid of your brother gain you enough strength to beat him?"

"Then how come Sakura got so strong from it?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Did she?" Kakashi asked looking at the girl. "There is more to this than meets the eye. In Sakura's case, the curse seal seems completely dormant now. It is not boosting the girl in the slightest."

"What?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "Bull!"

Kakashi sighed. "It's true; the seal is dormant for the moment. Sakura resisted it completely. It's never been known before."

"And how the heck do you know that?" Sasuke growled.

"Because…there is another person in the village that bears a cursed seal. Their's has been suppressed as best as possible by the Hokage. Don't ask who as I won't tell you, but I will tell you what the seal does to a person."

Sasuke looked on interested. "It is true it grants you power but at a great cost. If and this is a one in ten if, you survive having the seal given to you and you use it, the seal draws energy from your body and soul, eventually devouring it if you give in."

"What!" Sakura's voice cried out causing Kakashi to spin around in shock. Said girl was sitting on the bed staring at Kakashi in horror.

'How did I miss her waking up?' Kakashi frowned.

"How much did you hear?" Kakashi asked quietly examining the girl. Sakura was shaking and pale, her green eyes were beginning to tear up.

"Is…is it true? The curse and…I was someone else?" Sakura questioned fearfully, yet she already knew. Upon wakening, she had a couple of seconds blinking confused at the ceiling before a hoard of memories slammed into her head. She remembered everything Ranma had done since waking up now but it was more hazy like it had happened to somebody else than a true memory.

Kakashi sensing no danger from the girl walked over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You are Sakura again? What do you remember?"

"Everything…" the girl whispered quietly.

"Even your battle with Sasuke?" Kakashi probed.

"Yes…" Sakura mumbled.

Kakashi was about to ask more questions when the door opened revealing the Hokage. The old man walked into the room followed closely by Anko.

"Ah, good they're both awake." The Hokage stated. He turned to Sasuke. "The good news is Sasuke you've been given another shot at passing, so if you don't want to miss it you should head up there now. That is, if you are well enough."

Sasuke frowned and glanced at each of them, except Sakura who noticed and hung her head.

"Go on. Not many get a second chance." Kakashi smiled encouragingly. Sasuke hopped off the bed and left the room. Once the boy was out of earshot Kakashi turned to the Hokage.

"Will he be safe going alone?"

"Don't worry Kakashi, there is an ANBU unit watching him discreetly. We don't want the boy to feel smothered."

"Good." Kakashi nodded. "He's feeling a little…fragile at the moment. Much more and he might make a very bad choice."

The Hokage frowned catching the hidden meaning in Kakashi's words. They would have to tread carefully around Sasuke for a while. After all, being defeated by someone like Sakura must have been a blow to his ego, and speaking of said girl the Hokage turned his attention to the other occupant of the room.

"And who do we have here then?" he asked mirthlessly and watched the pink haired girl squirm.

"One of our thoughts from earlier," Kakashi said coming to Sakura's aid. "It's not true. Orochimaru visited earlier."

"What! Why the hell did you not say anything? Why didn't the ANBU spot him?" Anko burst out. "Who's on duty I'll kill em for sleeping on the job."

"If it's any consolation he sneaked in past myself as well." Kakashi stated with a shrug. Anko's hands were twitching Kakashi noticed. 'This ain't good.' He thought.

"I take it he left without a battle then?" the Hokage said snapping Anko out of her rage.

"I'm still alive." Kakashi responded gravely. "He basically told me what happened in the forest, what he wanted and left. He stated he'd come back for them once they matured into their powers."

The Hokage frowned. "He's playing games with us then." With a sigh, the Hokage turned back to Sakura. "So what is your story young lady?"

Sakura looked frightened so Kakashi spoke up once again. "Don't worry Sakura, you're not in trouble."

"If it's any consolation to you Sakura, what you say will not go beyond this room." The Hokage told her gently.

"What do you want to know?"

The Hokage laughed lightly still trying to get the girl to relax. "Now that is a tough one. We've got lots of questions."

Anko spoke up first. "Okay then, how did you suppress the cursed seal?"

Sakura unconsciously rubbed her neck. "I…well I didn't."

Anko frowned at the girl. "Then who did?"

"Ranma did that." Sakura said with slight grimace at the thought of the cocky version of herself. The three adults in the room exchanged glances.

"Ranma is the other you then?" Kakashi asked the question they all wanted to know.

"Yeah, I think she is."

The Hokage pondered this stroking his beard lightly. "I take it Ranma was the one taking the exam for you."

Sakura nodded confirming what they all now suspected.

"This Ranma, how did she suppress the curse seal?" Anko asked leaning in closer hungrily.

"I don't know what she really did. It was something with chakra though." Sakura told them.

"Where did she come from?" the Hokage asked. "And if we may can we talk to her?"

Sakura took a deep breath before answering. "We both don't know. We were inside a big room, I think in my head." Sakura pointed at her head. "There was a big door that was barred and…"

"Excuse me." The Hokage said interrupting her. "A barred door? Can you describe it?" In his head, he began to get a worrying suspicion about what this Ranma might be. 'Please, don't let it be another one.'

"Well, it's about three times my height and almost as wide. It's got a large wooden bar keeping it shut. We tried opening it but it won't budge." The Hokage felt his heart race at the girl's words and both Kakashi and Anko noticed his agitation. "The cursed seal is stuck in the wood at the top and it's cracked the door. It looks like a leech."

The Hokage paled slightly. 'A seal is on this girl holding something behind a large door which the cursed seal has caused to weaken allowing whatever was behind the door through. But what could be sealed in Sakura? I knew nothing of this.'

"Sakura, I need you to think very carefully about this next question. I need you to answer if honestly okay." The Hokage told the girl. "Now, this Ranma is she…strange or scary in anyway? Demonic in anyway?"

Sakura had an inkling at what the Hokage was trying to find out and from Ranma's memories Sakura remembered the Kyuubi in Naruto. "You think Ranma is like what is in Naruto?"

This drew a collect gasp from Kakashi and the Hokage. "Who told you about that? Was it Naruto?" asked the Hokage.

"Naruto knew about this Ranma didn't he?" Kakashi interrupted putting two and two together from how Naruto had answered during the battle between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Y…yes." Sakura nodded. "Kyuubi took me…I mean Ranma into Naruto for a short while."

"Kami…" the Hokage gasped. "What…what did it do?"

"It talked about end of the world and Ranma being called Godslayer or Wild Horse of the Apocalypse and the two of them being allies."

The Hokage had to grip the bed to stop himself falling in shock and fear. Kakashi's eye widened at this and Anko quickly helped the Hokage steady himself.

"Hokage-sama?" Anko asked worried.

"T…this…this news is…" the Hokage trailed off.

"Terrifying." Kakashi stated.

End Chapter 4

Ahh misunderstandings follow Ranma everywhere :P

They way things are going Team 7 will be getting quite a reputation.

Oops … Biji hehe sorry my bad (my wikipedia-jutsu failed).

Just a point about Ranma being vicious, Ranma is not the young Ranma everyone knows and has had some bad experiences which will be remembered later…

Omake :P

"What the heck?" She pointed before checking her pouch and finding no shuriken there. Sakura blinked. "Does this mean?"

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering pinkie?" Ranma asked.

"I think so Ranma, but how will we get Sasuke in here and ten gallons of jello?"

Chapter 5 – Snakes, Demons and Bastards

Zaku stood outside the tower and stared out at the forest, not seeing it. He would have his revenge somehow. That pink-haired bitch would die, he swore it. His arms were ruined, they would probably heal but he would never again be able to use the ability given to him by Orochimaru-sama.

He felt like he had failed his saviour. Orochimaru-sama had rescued him from living on the streets, gave him a purpose, power and he would sacrifice his life for the only person who ever helped him.

But now? It was over he guessed. Orochimaru-sama would not want or need an invalid.

"Zaku." Came the voice of his saviour as Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows.

"Orochimaru-sama." Zaku felt hope well up for a second before he realised he had failed and Orochimaru-sama was probably here to get rid of him. He averted his master's eyes. "I failed you."

"Show me those eyes or yours Zaku."

Zaku looked up in surprise.

"The pink-haired girl Sakura. The one that defeated you, I want her." Orochimaru stated and Zaku felt his hate for her swell larger. Orochimaru-sama wanted the girl. Damn her!

Orochimaru smiled evilly. "Yes, those are the eyes I need Zaku. Return to me, return to our home and I will grant you the power to beat the girl and take your revenge."

Zaku stared shocked. Orochimaru-sama still wanted him? He would be granted a new power.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama. A…Anything for you."

x X x

An uneasy silence settled over the infirmary as its occupants digested the news at what sounded like an extremely dire situation. What Sakura had told them of the meeting with Kyuubi was, as Kakashi stated terrifying. Not just from what the Kyuubi had talked about, but the fact that the nine-tailed fox had been able to work around the seal enough to summon something to itself.

Was this Wild Horse of the Apocalypse, this Ranma was a sign that the world was soon to end? The Kyuubi's words described Ranma as an ally and to the three adults who remembered the beast's attack on their home village could only imagine something completely evil would align itself with a monster like Kyuubi.

"Could this really be?" the Hokage wondered out loud. "The end of the world has been prophesised before…I will need to research this."

"It's not all bad." Anko stated with cheery smile. The kind of smile that on Anko would send her friends running for the hills and her enemies to an early grave. "We just kill the containers. Problem solved."

Kakashi sighed while the Hokage groaned. Thankfully Sarutobi knew Anko well enough to tell she was not serious…yet. A glance at the look of terror on Sakura's face told him the girl really thought they might kill her.

"We are a peaceful civilised village. We do not go around killing children just because they have the unfortunate task of keeping demons sealed away from the world." The Hokage stated. "The law I put in place to protect Naruto from the villager's wrath was done for this very reason. And just like Naruto, this child is innocent of any of the demon's wrong doings."

Sarutobi fixed Sakura with a kind gaze and lightly covered one of her small hands with his own. "I will do everything in my power to help you Sakura. I swear this as Hokage."

"Thank you." Sakura sniffed and smiled feeling a load better now that she knew the Hokage was going to help her. Sarutobi nodded to her before standing to turn to Kakashi.

"I have a suggestion Kakashi."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow raised as the silver-haired copy-ninja translated the words 'a suggestion' to 'an order'.

"Keep Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto with you at all times for the next month while you train them. They need to be guarded and I don't want you to take your eyes off them." The Hokage fixed him with a stare that meant he was serious. "You will not be allowed to take them out of the village, it too dangerous at this moment in time to visit your usual training areas."

Kakashi frowned but knew the Hokage's words to be true. "I understand."

Anko piped up suddenly. "It seems the matches are finished. Uchiha Sasuke has won his second chance."

"Looks like our times up." The Hokage sighed. "Well, let's be off then to announce the winners."

Kakashi motioned to Sakura with an eye-smile. "You too. Enough lazing around eh?"

The trip back to the arena passed in a daze for Sakura as she was busy attempting to sort out her feelings and it was only through Kakashi guiding her with a hand on her shoulder that she did not bump into walls.

Was Ranma really a demon? Sure the pigtailed version of herself was annoying and sadistic, after all she had threw freezing water over Sakura, but somehow she could not quite see the girl as a demon. Although she reasoned to herself demons were masters of trickery and illusions, well the ones she had read about in stories always were.

Sakura admitted though, if Ranma were a demon, it was a scary thought that a demon could exist inside her and at any time it could maybe seize control and make her do evil things. Is that what Naruto put up with every day? Sakura made a vow to be nicer to him, at least when he was not being stupid that is.

Sakura was blindingly following the Hokage's red and white robed figure when Kakashi stopped her.

"We're going this way Sakura." He informed her jokingly. "That way leads to the important peoples stands. You don't want to go there, it's very boring."

"Oh. Sorry sensei." Sakura mumbled as she allowed Kakashi to redirect her.

"It's a lot to take in eh?" Kakashi said. "But don't worry, I have every faith in you to be strong. I'm sure if Naruto does it you'll have no problem."

"You think so sensei?" Sakura looked up hope in her eyes.

"Naaaaah." Kakashi stated with a finger raised and Sakura felt her stomach drop. "I know…so. Huh?" Kakashi noticed Sakura was grinding her teeth. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

'Sooo annoying!' Sakura felt Inner-Sakura stir in her mind.

"Anyway…" Kakashi stated with a gentle push to get Sakura moving again. "We're here."

All eyes turned to them as they stepped onto the upper level of the arena through the doorway at the end opposite the stairs. Sakura suddenly felt like she wanted to be swallowed up into a hole in the ground and never return.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" Naruto shouted in his typical manager as he bounced over excitedly. "I won! I won my match! Wooo!"

Sakura for once was glad for Naruto's antics as it took some of the watching eyes off of her. Sakura looked at Naruto, really looked at him for once. Not as the annoyance that got in her way between herself and Sasuke but as a person. His face was a picture of happiness but she saw something else, a pleading look in his eyes like he wanted to be acknowledged.

'Hard to believe he has a monster inside him.' Sakura thought and remembering her promise to be nicer smiled back at him.

"That's great Naruto."

Naruto was stunned into silence for once his mouth making a little 'o' before turning into an enormous foxy grin as he blushed and nervously chuckled while rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura stared in surprise, Naruto had actually gone quiet. Maybe the apocalypse was coming after all. Behind them Kakashi smiled. 'Good, they're both starting to grow up.'

"Why don't you two go talk with your friends for a bit?" Kakashi suggested. He needed to find out what had happened during the battles and judging by a few faces, even more damage to the arena and lack of Gai it had not been pleasant.

As Sakura with Naruto trailing behind her, walked over to the remaining leaf gennins she noticed a couple of faces were missing, Hinata, Tenten and Lee. Choji was sitting leaned against the wall looking slightly roughed up.

"Hey guys." Sakura greeted only to be met by a bunch of shuffling and a couple of half-hearted "heys". The uneasy silence drew painfully on so Sakura tried again.

"Hey Ino-pig, did you win?" Sakura asked her so-called rival for Sasuke. The addressed girl eeped and tried to put Shikamaru between her and Sakura. Looking nervously over an unimpressed Shikamaru's shoulder, the girl shook her head. "N…No Sakura."

Sakura's face fell as she realised that her peers now seemed nervous around her. Footsteps approaching drew their attention to Sasuke as he walked towards the group.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura smiled hopefully before she had to step back in surprise. Sasuke had stopped and raised his hand very quickly to point at Sakura, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I want a rematch." He stated angrily. "I will beat you."

"Sa…sasuke?" Sakura stammered while the boy glared at her. Their eyes met and he frowned. Sakura's eyes were frightened and green, not the icy-blue eyes of that warrior he wanted. Sasuke let his arm drop to his side and he placed his hands into his pockets.

"I see now." Sasuke said with a shrug. "You're not the one I want to fight."

"Sasuke-kun I…" Sakura tried to say but Sasuke interrupted her.

"Shut up! I don't want to talk to you. You're nothing but a silly little girl. You're annoying and loud and useless. At least the other one can fight. What can you do?" Sasuke sneered. "You should disappear and bring that one back."

Sakura felt her entire world shatter. Her throat felt constricted and raw, tears must have been welling up in her eyes for they stung. Did Sasuke really feel that way about her? Did he really want her to disappear so he could have Ranma instead? She clenched her eyes to try and stop the tears. 'I just want to disappear.' She wished and…Ranma snapped awake.

'What the heck?' Ranma thought as she suddenly found herself back in the real world. She had been in the middle of manipulating reality when she had suddenly felt like she was being sucked up a straw. A second later, memories of what had occurred to Sakura since the girl had awakened in the infirmary slammed into her head and Ranma found herself wobbling unsteadily as she tried to sort through the information.

They thought she was a demon? Ranma would have laughed but then she remembered what Sasuke had just done. Ranma's eyes snapped open in anger.

Naruto was as stunned as the rest of the group as Sasuke had verbally lashed out at Sakura enough to leave the poor girl rocking.

"Sasuke! You bastard!" Naruto roared drawing Sasuke's attention to him. "I won't let you talk to Sakura-chan like that!"

Ranma's arm shot out and prevented the blond boy from attacking Sasuke. Keeping her head lowered so Sasuke could not see her eyes Ranma spoke. "I don't need you ta fight my battles Naruto."

Sasuke recognised the sudden shift in Sakura's tone and got ready to fight. "So you've come back?"

Ranma looked Sasuke in the eyes as she lowered her arm. "There's one thing I really hate more than seeing girls cry…" Ranma stated. "And that's jerks who make em cry."

"I'm glad you're back. Fight me!" Sasuke commanded.

Ranma observed him through half-lidded eyes before shrugging. "No."

"Wha?" Sasuke stated. "Why the hell not?" he demanded.

"You could have just challenged me to a fight. There was no need to insult Sakura like that." Ranma told him. "You won't _**ever**_ get the re-match you want now."

In the background Ino asked. "Why is she referring to herself in third person?"

"Troublesome." Shikamaru stated. He had observed the changes in Sakura's posture, voice and most importantly her eye colour. Somehow she was now a different person.

Sasuke growled. "Feh, no problem then I'll just attack you and you'll have to fight back." And with that he threw a punch at the angry girl. Ranma did not move and allowed the blow to land with enough force to turn her head slightly even though she had prepared for the impact. Sasuke winched ever so slightly. The blow had felt like he had just punched a lump of iron and not a person.

Ranma just glared at Sasuke who had his fist still against her cheek. She had focused enough ki to soften the blow to a point that it was barely felt. It was something she had remembered during the preliminary with Sasuke but had been unable to use it and attack in battle due to Sakura's rather low (compared to Ranma's memories of her own) ki reserves. Sakura's body did have plenty of that other energy still but Ranma still had no idea what it was and until she had time to experiment she dare not use it in case it reacted badly to her manipulations.

She was about to say something cocky when Naruto tore into Sasuke, literally biting and scratching like a wild animal and not a properly trained fighter. Sasuke was dragged down to the ground by the raging maelstrom dressed in orange, where the two continued to duke it out.

Ranma would have stepped in but Kakashi beat her to it. He yanked the raging Naruto off Sasuke by the back of his jumpsuit. Naruto's arms and legs kept flailing and Kakashi was forced to drop the boy. Before Naruto could get back up he had stepped onto the boy's back pinning him and fixing both Naruto and Sasuke with enough killing intent to stop them in their tracks.

"Enough!" Kakashi roared. "If either of you ever try this again I will personally tie you to a log and perform a thousand years of pain on you in front of the entire village!" Kakashi glared at his three students.

"You wouldn't dare!" Sasuke growled out remembering how stupid that technique was, and how embarrassing that would be.

"You think I wouldn't?" Kakashi growled forming his hands into the 'seal' needed. "If you want to I'll do it right this instant." Kakashi threatened. Both boys quietened as they realised Kakashi would seriously embarrass them in front of everyone. "Now get up and act like shinobi and not school children."

Both Naruto and Sasuke got up but still glared hatefully at each other. Kakashi sighed and walked over to Ranma.

"Are you ok Sakura?" Kakashi asked worried for the girl. Ranma knew Kakashi would realise something was different if she answered the question. Quickly she analysed Sakura's memories of the seconds before they had traded places. Discovering what she thought was the trigger Ranma tried it.

Kakashi almost had to grab the girl as she nearly fell down. Sakura found her legs quickly enough once Ranma's memories of events were assimilated into her own. Sakura found her voice finally. "I'm…I'm…" she started to sniffle. The switch had stopped the tears but she still hurt inside.

"Don't worry Sakura…we'll make things like they were before. I promise. So don't lose hope."

'How the heck will I fix this?' Kakashi sighed.

x X x

"Congratulations to all of you." Hayate told the assembled winners who stood lined up in front on him and the rest of the examiners. "If you would Hokage-sama."

"Of course." The Hokage said standing up. "Now I'd like to explain the main test. As I told you before, in the main event your matches will be seen by everybody. Each of you will fight to represent your country. I'd like you to show off your skills without reserve." The Hokage let his words sink in before he continued. "Which is why, the finals will be held in one months time."

"We're not going to do it now?" Naruto asked.

"This break will be to allow for preparations." The Hokage explained. "In addition to informing all the various country lords and shinobi leaders, this is the time needed to arrange the gathering of the event and also the preparation time for you students."

"And what do you mean by preparation time for us?" Kankuro asked.

"Basically, it is preparation time to get to know yourself and your enemy. It's the time period where you will calculate your chances of winning. By analysing the data you have accumulated during this trial. The battles up to now have been against an unknown opponent as if it were an actual combat situation." The Hokage waved his pipe absently. "However the final trial will not be like this. There are those who have shown all they can do already to their rivals. There are those that competed and where injured against a strong opponent. To make things fair, the one month should be used by all of you to advance and improve yourselves."

'I must get stronger!' both Naruto and Sasuke were thinking while glaring at the other.

x X x

Kakashi was feeling a little stressed as he walked down the street with his students. He would be taking them to stay at his house so he could watch them as per the Hokage's orders. He would have to watch over and train them for a whole month. If the month went over like the last hour had, they would not need to worry about Orochimaru taking any of them as he would have killed them before then himself.

So far he had had to arrange everyone to prevent fighting. Naruto was at the far end of the procession, who kept sending death glares at Sasuke. Next to Naruto was Sakura. She had kept quiet the entire trip to inform her parents and pick up Naruto's and Sasuke's stuff so far. Every now and then she would glance at Sasuke, clearly upset. Kakashi walked next to her and between Sasuke who also had not said anything and would not look at any of them. This micromanagement was wearing on the copy-ninja's nerves.

Thankfully his small house came into view. Kakashi spent much of his time on missions so only bought himself a smallish cosy home. As he was a quite private person the house was one of the few in the area that was detached and had a small wall around it and a very tiny garden. Two stories high, the first floor was half as large as the ground floor and with only a few rooms and a red tiled roof. To reach the second floor you had to use the stairs outside, or jump up there if you were a ninja.

Staring at his house Kakashi had a sinking feeling that he was going to regret buying such a small house after this month was over. He would of liked to have given them all separate rooms but as he only had one bedroom that was not possible. His plan was to use the biggest room downstairs. They would all be sleeping in the same room and that was why they had picked up their camping gear. He was making them treat this like they had their trip to Wave country, except there seemed to be a higher threat of sudden death this time.

"Well, this is it." Kakashi shrugged. "Welcome to Kakashi towers."

No response. Not even Naruto said anything at Kakashi's attempt to lighten the atmosphere. With a tired sigh Kakashi unlocked the door and let them in.

"Kitchen." Kakashi pointed to his left at the small kitchen. "On the right is the toilet, and this room at the end is where we'll be camping."

The four of them entered the room, aside from the traditional dark wood table and a couple of pictures of dogs on the walls the room was bare.

"Table." Kakashi joked as he flicked on the lights. "Heh, heh…" at the expressionless faces Kakashi gave up. "Forget it guys. Just pick a spot and set up camp, we'll start again in the morning eh?"

There were a couple of grunts in response. Well that was progress right?

x X x

Sakura lay in her sleeping bag listening to the sounds of the house at night unable to sleep. Kakashi had left a window slightly open to let a breeze through as the night was pretty warm. The wind chime outside the window would chime now and again as the breeze shifted it. Now and then a dog would bark in the distance.

She felt awful, her thoughts kept going over and over what Sasuke had said to her. Why was he being like that? Sakura could not understand why he was like that. The toll on her body was finally catching up with her and she felt her eyelids drooping.

Kakashi finally relaxed as he listened to Sakura's breathing finally indicated she had fallen asleep. Now he could get some rest too.

Sakura blinked as she found herself back in the white area, except it was different this time. There was part the beginnings of a large house being erected. A pink-haired pigtailed girl was hammering some posts into the ground with her fists.

Sakura walked slowly over and had to stop. There was a large fish pond in the ground now complete with fish that were swimming around lazily. She blinked how the heck?

"Ranma?" Sakura asked quietly.

The other girl stopped her building and turned to Sakura. "Hey there. Whatcha think?" Ranma indicated her work.

"Well, it's…how did you?" Sakura asked feeling the post Ranma had just been setting. It felt real.

"Well it's easy really." Ranma smiled. "You just imagine it and it appears. Neat ain't it?"

"Ranma…are you…" Sakura started but Ranma stopped her.

"No, I'm not a demon. I mean come on do I look like one?"

"H…how did you know…"

"You were going to ask that? We share the memories of the body when we switch. Its pretty obvious and also a possible weakness." Ranma stated. "When we switch there's a short time when we absorb the missing memories and that leaves us vulnerable. So if ya get inta a fight that ya need help with switch before the actual fighting starts kay?"

"Then you know what…" Sakura began shakily.

"Yeah." Ranma admitted quietly. "And everything you felt too. Damn Sasuke-bastard." Ranma used Naruto's favourite insult.

"W…why did he?" Sakura asked as tears welled up again. Ranma knew she was not the best at consoling crying girls so when Sakura grabbed her and started crying Ranma almost panicked.

"Hey, hey." Ranma said helping Sakura down slowly where the girl continued sobbing into her shoulder. Ranma did not know what to say so she just kept quiet for once and waited for Sakura to calm down. Ranma watched Sakura as the girl's sobs began to slow down. She felt a need to protect this girl well up in her chest, like a little sister. Ranma decided then to make Sasuke's life hell whenever she could from now on.

"Hey, you know what always cheers me up?" Ranma asked. Sakura looked at her and blinked the tears away. "Icecream!"

"Huh?"

Ranma suddenly had the fanciest sundae Sakura had ever seen in her free hand. If the gods made sundae's this would be the one they made. "And do you know what the best thing about this place is? You can eat as much as you want without getting fat or having to pay for it!"

After the two had consumed vast quantities of icy-goodness Ranma asked. "Can I borrow your body for a bit? I want to talk ta your sensei about stuff."

"Stuff?" Sakura asked wondering what Ranma wanted to talk about.

"Well, I need to talk about me and convince 'im I'm not a demon and your training. General stuff I don't know yet about your village. I think stuff is going on that I need ta know about. Like that snake guy." Ranma told Sakura.

"I suppose." Sakura agreed.

"Cool!" Ranma stated hopping up. "I'll be back as quick as possible."

x X x

Ranma opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. The now familiar memory rush occurred and she waited a few seconds to let them settle before carefully climbing out Sakura's sleeping bag. Making sure to alert Kakashi but not wake the other two Ranma exited the room, headed down the short hall and exited the house.

Once outside in the cool night air Ranma leapt onto Kakashi's roof and waited. She was not disappointed as she felt the copy-ninja's presence behind her.

"Lovely night eh Kakashi-sensei." Ranma stated trying her best to imitate Sakura's manner of speech.

Kakashi was surprised Sakura had spotted him. With a frown he realised that this was probably not Sakura after all. 'Does Ranma take over whenever Sakura sleeps?'

"Ranma I presume?" Kakashi asked hands in pockets and with a slight slouch.

"Heh." Ranma turned around and cocked her head to the side. "Yer everything Sakura's memories say ya are."

Kakashi's visible eye widen a little at the fact this Ranma had access to Sakura's memories. As the clouds cleared letting the moonlight wash over the rooftop Kakashi noticed the girl's eyes were a sparkling blue, almost glowing.

"What are you exactly?" Kakashi asked.

Ranma laughed a nasty chuckle and smirked evilly as a feeling of fear swept over Kakashi from the girl.

"A monster."

x X x

Sarutobi rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock on his desk.

'It is far too late to be doing this.' He grumbled internally. Since the end of the exam he had retreated to his tower and was going over every scroll he had in his possession to do with the Bijuu or the end of the world. So far he had found nothing about a wild horse.

Sarutobi stood up slowly and stretched his aching muscles. Walking over to a window he looked out over the village and worried. Nothing on the scrolls made any mention of this wild horse and he was beginning to think it was actually a wild goose. Goose chase that was.

After getting no where with the scrolls he checked on Sakura's records, especially her ones right after birth. Again nothing came up out of the ordinary. No strange birth marks or activity. Nothing.

Sarutobi rarely got frustrated but this was driving him mad at the moment. It was one of those puzzles that he just had to know the answer to.

His thoughts were interrupted as his study door slammed open and a ninja ran in.

"Sorry to interrupt Hokage-sama, but you wanted to know if anything happened at Kakashi's place." The ninja panted.

"What is it?" Sarutobi asked in worry. This was just what he needed now, more trouble.

"Kakashi is fighting Sakura across the rooftops in the area. He appears to be losing!"

Sarutobi swore. "Gather as many ANBU as possible and head there. I'll go there myself while you do that!"

x X x

Ice cold fingers gripped Kakashi's heart at the girl's words. Her powerful aura was quite frankly felt as nasty as any he had felt before. It was an aura of pure fear strong enough to shake even him.

"A…monster?" Kakashi asked the girl in front of him.

"Are you deaf or stupid human?" Ranma asked playing her role. Increasing the effect of her aura she smirked internally. Whoever had taught her to project this sort of illusion must have been powerful. She wished her memories would come back properly, but for now she was going to have some fun with the copy-ninja.

Kakashi felt his legs want to buckle and by an extreme effort in willpower he managed to prevent it, although he could no longer hold his pretended indifference pose he normally used in battle. The girl was now glowing with power, her fingers looked like they were clawed and all her teeth ended in points. Her eyes glowed eerily.

"L…let Sakura go." Kakashi managed to demand as he started to get a hold on his emotions.

"It's too late silly man." Ranma laughed. "Took me a while but I have finally consumed her soul."

"You're lying!" Kakashi shouted.

Ranma laughed again. "It's too late now. I'm free from my prison and once I take care of you and release Kyuubi we will lay waste to this world."

Kakashi felt his stomach drop. It was true this girl, no monster was going to release the Kyuubi. He had to stop her and save Sakura.

"You won't succeed. I will save Sakura and I will stop you!" as Kakashi said those words the girl vanished before appearing in front of him and buried her fist into his gut. Kakashi was launched right across the street to land awkwardly on the roof opposite, the wind knocked out of him. Forcing his breathing to recover Kakashi looked across at the glowing girl. She was fast and strong.

Ranma waited for Kakashi to recover, which also gave her a chance to rest a bit. Using this much power at once was tiring in Sakura's body. She had to keep the ki illusion up constantly. She could not just waste energy here, so she had to alternate between usages. First she boosted her speed till she was in range. Then she had boosted her strength to knock Kakashi away. Switching between usages was harder than just using them both at the same time, but not as tiring. And in this fight she needed to last.

Once she was sure Kakashi's attention was on her she boosted her speed again and launched herself at him. Kakashi managed to block the blow and he found himself wondering why it was so light compared to the last one.

Taking advantage of the girl's current position in the air Kakashi leapt away throwing kunai at the demon. Ranma landed and use the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken to knock the thrown weapons away. This gave the impression they had bounced off her aura.

Kakashi's eye widened at this. He landed ready for another attack but the girl just stood and watched him.

"Why do you want to stop me Kakashi?" Ranma asked with another burst of fear aura directed towards him.

Kakashi felt the aura grow stronger and stared. 'She's getting stronger?'

"Because…because I promised Sakura everything would be put right! If I have to kill you to release her soul I will." Kakashi answered. "Better for her to die at my hand than be a slave to a monster."

"And what if that costs you your life?" Ranma asked increasing her aura again. 'Damn this is draining.'

"If that is what it takes to keep this world from dying!" Kakashi told the demon as he braced his right arm with his left and started to power up his chidori move. Ranma stared impressed as a ball of lightening formed in his palm with a noise that sounded like thousand of bird's chirping. Small bolts would flicker out constantly.

'Time to end this act.' Ranma smirked before shouting "Double Moko Takabisha!"

Kakashi's concentration was destroyed along with his chidori as two balls of what he assumed were chakra rushed towards him. At the last second he rolled underneath the passing spheres of destruction where they detonated against the wall behind him creating two depressions.

Kakashi could not help but turn to stare at the destruction. His visible eye had gone wide. 'Projectile chakra? What kind of monster am I facing?'

"One thousand years of pain!" Kakashi heard the words before the bottom of his world was rocked, sending him flying into the wall with a thud and sore butt.

Kakashi rolled over in disbelief. "What? What? What the hell!?"

Ranma was standing over him looking normal again and laughing her pink little head off. "You…hahaha…should have seen…hahahaha…your face! Bwahahahhaa!"

Kakashi lay there stunned at the complete change in the girl before him. Ranma recovered from her laughing and held a hand out to Kakashi.

"Congratulations." Kakashi stared dumbly at the offered hand. "You pass."

"What?" Kakashi asked still stunned and now really confused.

"Well isn't it obvious. I wanted ta see what kinda of person ya were. Sakura's memories of ya told me you were a good guy but I had ta find out myself if you were willing to sacrifice yourself to protect people. You pass."

A stunned Kakashi slowly reached up and gripped the girl's hand still expecting something else to happen, but all she did was help him to his feet. Kakashi rubbed his butt. "All this just for a test?"

Ranma chuckled. "Yeah, I choose to act the part of evil demon as that's what you guys were expecting."

"Damn, I should of looked underneath the underneath." Kakashi stared at the smirking girl in disbelief. "How did you know a thousand years of pain?"

Ranma chuckled before answering. "Well I was there when you threaten Naruto and Sasuke-bastard with it, so I asked Sakura what it was after she and I had a talk."

The two were interrupted as the Hokage landed on the roof. He looked the two over and he did not look pleased.

"There better be a very good excuse for this." Sarutobi informed the two.

End Chapter 5

Sorry about the wait :P, damn this took some writing it just wouldn't flow like the other chapters…I'm undecided if what I had Sasuke do was the way to go with this so I'll see what the reactions are from it.

**Chapter 6 – Explainations**

"There better be a very good excuse for this." Sarutobi informed the two people standing in front of him. One a tall silver-haired ninja with only one eye visible and the other, a pink-haired twelve year old girl. The Hokage fixed them with a gaze that said 'I'm pissed and will hurt you if you answer the wrong way.'

"It was her/his fault." Kakashi and Ranma stated together pointing casually at each other before blinking in surprise at the echo.

x X x

"Now," Sarutobi asked as he sat in his study on a chair facing Kakashi and Ranma who were seated opposite him on the couch. There was a small dark wood table between them, and three cups of tea sat untouched so far, steam lazily drifting upwards from them. "Would either one of you explain exactly what was occurring on that rooftop?"

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably on his sore behind. 'One thousand years of pain indeed.'

"I was testing how Kakashi would react ta a certain situation." Ranma stated. "I also wanted to test his errr defences to see if I could _**poke**_ any holes in it." Ranma smiled innocently. At the glare Kakashi sent her way Ranma knew he had picked up on her joke.

Sarutobi studied the girl in front of him. He had not had much time to really study her while he, Kakashi and a squad of ANBU had escorted her back to his tower. Although she looked like Sakura her body language was completely different. She held herself apparently relaxed but to Sarutobi's skilled eyes he could tell she was well trained, damn well trained. Far above Sakura's current level, maybe above some jounins. She had a confidence that seemed to radiate in every movement she performed, and Sarutobi could tell she was good enough to deserve it.

Her eyes were what startled him. Bright blue crystal-clear eyes that spoke of a sharp mind and a wisdom that no twelve year old could have ever possessed. An yet, she seemed to act at times like a child as had been proved when she had tied one of the ANBU's legs together without any of them noticing till the unfortunate victim of the prank fell on his face. Sarutobi had watched the laughing girl seemingly acting all cute and innocent, but her eyes had told him that she was sending a message that said she was only going with them because she wanted to.

"And…what was that situation?" Sarutobi asked.

"Basically," Kakashi replied before the girl could. "she played on our fears and completely fooled me into thinking she was a demon out to destroy the world."

Sarutobi frowned. "Then that would mean…"

"Yep, me an' Sakura share the body's memories when we switch places." Ranma chirped happily sending a wink at Sarutobi. The old man sighed in disbelief.

"I take it you have Sakura's memories then?" Sarutobi asked.

Ranma paused thinking before answering. "Not exactly…it's more like I will remember what she does in the body and she gets my memories of what I do. We don't seem ta be able to remember any of each others memories from before I woke up."

Kakashi was seen raising an eyebrow again while Sarutobi leaned back and steepled his figures in thought. "Can you switch at will?"

Ranma nodded. "We seem ta be able to let go of control when we want. The other one seems to get dragged into control no matter what."

"Can you relinquish control at this moment? I wish to talk with Sakura for a bit." Sarutobi asked wanting to confirm if the girl's words were true.

"Sure. I'll go get her." Ranma smiled before she slumped, her eyes went lifeless for a second before right before Sarutobi and Kakashi's eyes they faded to a familiar light-green. The girl blinked a few times before she looked around nervously. However once her eyes settled on Kakashi she blushed and started to giggle.

"S…sorry Kakashi-sensei." Sakura stuttered between giggles. "I didn't know Ranma would do that."

"I'm sooo pleased you're finding it amusing." Kakashi grumbled. He was not actually upset, as it seemed that Ranma had somehow helped to cheer Sakura up a little.

Sarutobi probed the girl's aura and as suspected it was now completely different, well not quite completely different. Sakura's aura had the exact same strength as it had when she had been Ranma. Now however it was not as well controlled or held as densely around the girl, small pieces of the aura would evaporate into the air unseen to anyone but the most skilled of senses. This was a continuous process that happened to all chakra users and even those untrained in chakra manipulation, it was natural.

The greatest difference was Ranma's version of the aura did not leak any wasted energy. Could Ranma's control of her internal energies be so good? Even as tightly controlled as Sarutobi held his own aura some small fractions would still escape. To hold such control was amazing, and now he knew how the girl had beaten Sasuke even with less than half the boy's internal energies.

Sarutobi now believed that Ranma was not actually a demon. No demon vessel had such a low level of power, as sealing a demon required it to be done to a newborn before their chakra coils had fully developed. This would allow the coils to expand to accommodate the demon's power as the child grew. Even when Ranma was in control Sakura's internal energies did not grow.

This still left the unanswered question of what was Ranma?

"Sakura," Sarutobi addressed the girl. "what do you think of Ranma?"

"I…I think she's errr loud, annoying and sadistic…"

"Sounds like Anko." Kakashi chuckled agreeing with sadistic.

"but, she can be really kind as well." Sakura said remembering in her head how Ranma had comforted her. "She's like…like having a big sister I think."

Sarutobi pondered this. So Sakura had started to think of Ranma like a big sister, this also confirmed the feeling he had that Ranma was older than Sakura.

"Sakura, may I speak with Ranma again now?" Sarutobi asked.

"Okay." Sakura replied and closed her eyes to concentrate. A second later Ranma opened her eyes.

"So?" Ranma asked wanting to find out what the two men thought.

"I believe you are not a demon as we first thought." Sarutobi stroked his beard while he continued. "However, we still do not know what you are exactly. Also words of the Kyuubi are…worrying."

"Kyuubi…I don't know what fuzzy means myself. My memories ain't complete; I think I've barely remembered anything apart from techniques and vague feelings. An' most of the techniques I only remembered when I needed em." Ranma frowned. "As to what I am…who knows. A ghost? Something magical? Maybe even a curse."

"Speaking of curses." Sarutobi remembered the cursed seal on Sakura. "What of the cursed seal? How exactly did you manage to suppress it?"

"I wrapped it up in ki. So far it can't get out but I need to keep squeezing the leech. It's damn tough too, won't leave yet. I'll shift it sometime tho' just a matter of time." Ranma told the Hokage.

Sarutobi frowned at the unfamiliar term of ki. "Ki? What is that?"

Ranma blinked. "Huh? How can you not know that? I mean you guys use it in your techniques, along with that other energy you all got as well."

"During your match, you were using the raw spiritual part of chakra." Kakashi stated. "In fact that's all I've seen you use."

"Spiritual energy? Yeah that's what I call ki."

"And the physical part? Why do you not use it?" Kakashi asked Ranma.

"Physical part?" Ranma wondered. "So is that the other energy. Does it work the same?"

"Well, we don't try and use only one part. All our technique use both halves mixed together to produce the desired effects."

Ranma pondered this information. "So you use both the energies at the same time? Hmmmm? Can I try something without all the guards jumping me?"

Sarutobi and Kakashi exchanged a glance. Looked like Ranma knew they were not as alone as they had attempted to appear. Just in case.

"Very well, but keep it small." Sarutobi stated sending a signal for the ANBU's not to attack Ranma as she used some technique.

Ranma nodded before her face scrunched in concentration. She held her right hand out and as a ball of blue energy formed in her palm. She enlarged it to the size of a tennis ball and then stopped forming it.

Sarutobi leaned closer and raised a hand tentatively. At Ranma's nod he reached forward and held his hand near to it. A feeling of confidence filled him as his hand hovered over the blue ball.

"I can see it. This is raw spiritual power?" the Hokage asked in wonder. "Never have I imagined it's possible to separate chakra into its base parts."

"Now I used an emotion to produce that one as Sakura's energies are nearly wiped from earlier today." Ranma told the two adults. "Makes it easier to produce more power with an emotion." Ranma stated noticing the question that Kakashi was going to ask.

"Ahhh." Kakashi spoke thinking over this revelation. "Any drawbacks to using emotions?"

Ranma chuckled. "Yeah, makes you rely on them too much, and if you pick a bad one like rage or depression, it can make you quite unstable."

"So not recommended." Kakashi nodded. It made sense he supposed.

"Yeah…seems ta help when you begin but once ya start gaining power you need ta switch ta pure ki." Ranma stated and then she held up her left hand. "Now I'm not sure what will happen here so you might need to duck."

Sarutobi watched Ranma's face as she concentrated. He also was observing the flows of energy in the girl's body. She was beginning to pull out physical energy into the palm of her other hand. As they watched a small white ball of energy appeared. Unlike the clear blue ki ball this one was a milky white and the flows of energy could be seen rippling across its surface. It appeared almost like water.

Ranma opened her eyes and frowned at the small white ball in her hand. She had used what she thought was the same amount of power for this one, but the ball was barely larger than a marble. Even just that much had been hard work and she felt sweat beading on her forehead. The physical part had been extremely sluggish compared to ki and took more effort to get flowing. It made sense as she remembered the energy had been heavier.

Ranma was about to speak when she noticed Kakashi and Sarutobi's faces had looks of complete shock on them. Oops she must have done something impossible again.

Sarutobi was the first to recover. "Never have I…even suspected that the raw forms of chakra could be manipulated as such." His hands shook in anticipation at learning something new and possibly a powerful tool. "Do you realise how many centuries of teaching you have just turned on its head?"

"Nope but looking at ya' guys faces it must be pretty big!" Ranma cackled.

Kakashi shook his head in amazement. It was actually real. "Our teaching's are that both parts are required to be mixed evenly before we can use them."

"Mixed eh? Let's try this." Ranma said with a grin as she began to bring her hands together.

Sarutobi paled at the girl's enthusiasm at testing unknown reactions out. "Maybe you shouldn't…" he began too late as Ranma let both spheres of energy merge together. The two energies started mixing in the centre of the ball. The white energy pulled the blue energy into itself and the blue ball collapsed quickly leaving a smaller than a marble mixed ball of energy.

"Hey, it's keeping itself in place!" Ranma stated eagerly as the ball seemed to keep itself floating where she had created it. The three watched the chakra ball float by itself in the air in amazement.

"Cool. Wonder what it can do?" Ranma wondered.

Sarutobi felt the pulse first. The ball bulged. A feeling of dread went through the old man. "It's unstable! Get down!"

Ranma blinked in surprise as Kakashi grabbed her and dragged them behind the couch even as the Hokage flipped over his chair and flattened himself on the floor.

The free-floating sphere started to expand consuming even the air it came into contact with. It reached about four foot across before it collapsed on its self rapidly. The explosion was as silent as it was spectacular. Every window within three floors of the study suddenly cracked before blowing out. The Hokage's study door was shattered and anything not nailed down in the room was sent flying. The chairs being used as barricades had their covers shredded and a second or so later a huge boom was heard, the shockwave was felt across the street.

Three nervous heads slowly peaked over the shredded furniture once dust stopped falling from the ceiling to observe the devastation. Where the chakra ball had been a large sphere shaped spot was best described as missing, as if anything within that area had simply ceased to exist.

"Awesome!" Ranma cheered.

x X x

"I'm gonna hafta try that again!" Ranma chirped once they had moved to another room, one undamaged by Ranma's newly dubbed Supernova attack.

Sarutobi dropped the unlit match he was going to use to light his pipe at Ranma's statement. "I think we should…perhaps wait until our understanding of what occurred is a little better."

"That was so cool though." Ranma stated as uses for the new technique danced through her head. She was really looking forward to getting Sakura's body trained up and visions of what she would be able to do then, kept Ranma giggling like a schoolgirl.

Kakashi and Sarutobi exchanged a look. An unspoken agreement of 'what have we gotten ourselves into?' passed between them as they watched the manically grinning girl. "I wonder if I can make a moving version?"

Sarutobi coughed drawing Ranma's attention. "Well, now that you've violated the basic principles of chakra control is there anything else about chakra you want to know?"

Ranma paused thoughtfully. "Hmmm, why are the flows all twisted in Sakura's and every else bodies?"

"You mean the chakra coils?" Sarutobi asked making sure he understood what Ranma was asking.

"Coils? Nah the flows are twisted and it takes longer to pull out ki or the other one." Ranma stated.

Sarutobi stared in disbelief. Sometimes he felt that Ranma was super intelligent then other times she was clueless. She was a puzzle alright.

"That is the flows you mean I believe."

Ranma frowned. "I remember enough to know I've never had twisty flows. We all had straight flows you know."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and took his unlit pipe out of his mouth. Stroking his bread he thought about what Ranma was saying. It sounded seriously like she was describing stunted chakra coils, ones that were unable to be coiled.

"And you claim you had larger reserves than Sakura?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah, way more. No offence but I'm sure I was above Kakashi's level at some point." Ranma offhandedly stated. The copy-ninja raised his eyebrow.

"I find that hard to believe if what you describe is what I think it is." Sarutobi stated. Ranma eyed the Hokage puzzled but stayed quiet waiting for him to explain. "What you describe, completely straight flows is what we term as stunted coils. People with this form of coil can never develop enough chakra to perform even the basics of ninjutsu."

Ranma frowned in thought. "Why would you coil the flows up anyhow? It makes it harder to pull the energy. When it is straight the energy flows almost instantly. I've had to pull my ki before I require it in Sakura's body. Messes with my timing."

"Perhaps a demonstration is required." Sarutobi said reaching into one of his pockets and pulled out a piece of string. Holding one finger out he continued. "Imagine my finger is a straight flow. Now you can see how much power would be available by the length of my finger correct?"

Ranma nodded following the Hokage so far.

"Now I take this longer piece of string and coil it around my finger." Sarutobi stated as he wrapped the string around his finger. "Notice, the string is taking the same space up now."

Ranma's eyes slowly widened as she figured out his meaning. "So…" Ranma said. "If you uncoiled the string it would take loads more space right?"

"Precisely. We teach our children from an early age to coil their flows and as they grow…"

"They get loads of ki…I mean chakra." Ranma finished.

"As chakra coils stop developing once you mature this form of training must take place as early as possible." Sarutobi told the girl. "So what you describe as doing can not be possible with straight flows."

Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked. "So…why don't you increase your ki…errr…chakra size like I was taught?"

Sarutobi blinked at the question. Kakashi looked confused at Ranma's words as well. There was a silence as Sarutobi thought about Ranma question. Was there another way to increase your chakra ability?

"What do you mean by that Ranma?" Kakashi asked.

"Well…you say you have to teach children at a young age to increase their chakra right?"

"Go on." Sarutobi leaned closer curious at Ranma's next words.

"Well I was not taught to use ki properly till I was in my teens. I remember that much."

Sarutobi pondered this. In her teens Ranma would still be growing her coils/flows but it was a slow process coiling them and there was still no way she could have coiled them enough in the time left to surpass Kakashi.

"How did you train then?" the Hokage asked the question.

"Meditation techniques. You have to draw as much power as ya can and hold it constantly. As you get better at holding it ya get larger reserves." Ranma told them.

"Isn't that a very dangerous technique?" Kakashi asked. "Holding onto chakra for too long can burnout your coils."

"Yeah, if you pull too much you can cause bad damage to yourself or even death. That's why we had to train our bodies first ta know our limits well, and through meditation we had to learn exactly how much we could hold. You could increase your reserves for as long as ya wanted." Ranma stated. "Some of the most powerful people were really, really old."

"It sounds like you were taught to…pressurise chakra…can that be possible?" Sarutobi paused in thought. If that was true then the method they used was safer but had an upper limit. If what Ranma had stated there was a more dangerous way that had no limit on how strong one could become.

"And you guys sound like ya cheated." Ranma said smugly.

"If you did pressurise chakra then it would flow faster like you described earlier." Sarutobi's eyes widened at a scary thought and spoke it out loud. "Ranma if you combined the two techniques to increase chakra how powerful do you think a person could become?"

"Longer coils and pressurised?" Ranma thought about it. Thinking of Kakashi and his current power level and then being able to double it easily Ranma answered. "Well the first few times ya succeed ya increase fast but the gain becomes less after a while. I think if I could teach Kakashi to train with my method in a couple of weeks he'd maybe…gain another half of his own power within a month."

"Would you be willing to train with Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked.

Ranma's face hardened suddenly. "Depends."

"On?" Sarutobi was quickly on edge at Ranma's sudden mood change.

"On you telling me everything about what I've gotten myself caught up in and why you train these kids to kill." Ranma told them icily. "Depending on what you tell me I'll make my decision. Don't try lying either."

Sarutobi considered his options. Some of the things he would have to tell Ranma were classified as village secrets only known to jounins and if he told the girl and she did not agree she could easily take those secrets elsewhere. On the other hand if her training worked the village would be able to increase in strength considerably perhaps enough to never fear invasion again?

"I can't tell you everything that is going on unless you were a jounin of the leaf." Sarutobi told the girl. "But I can tell you why we have to teach children to fight to the death at a young age."

Ranma kept her face passive but she did note the Hokage's voice had a hint of regret in it. She nodded for him to explain. Seeing Ranma would at least listen Sarutobi started speaking.

"The world we live in is a dangerous place. Outside the villages roam bandits and missing-nin, ninja who have defected from their village. The only places people can live in relative safety are within the walls of their respective villages. Why? Because of the brave men and women who train to become shinobi of the village. In the unfortunate times we find ourselves in we are forced to meet violent with the same measure." Sarutobi sighed. "Missing-nin sometimes decided to abuse their strength and choose to attack, threaten or kill whole villages. These rouge ninja, trained to the level of Kakashi or above cannot be defeated by the ordinary military and often need to be taken down by whole teams of shinobi."

Sarutobi looked Ranma in the eye and continued. "We have a fragile alliance with the other strongest villages, but any sign of weakness could break that alliance and another war could erupt, as one village may try to increase their power. That is the unfortunate situation we live in. My duty is to protect this village's peaceful way of life and everyone in it. To do so sacrifices must be made and unfortunately that includes a childhood. I wish it were different."

As silence fell over the room Ranma stared at the Hokage hard, noting the old man suddenly seemed tired. He had truly meant his regret at the situation this world was in. Ranma felt a willing respect for the old man as she realised the old man's position meant hard choices had to be made. Ranma made her choice, she would look after Sakura.

"So…" Ranma began icily making Sarutobi wince internally expecting the worst. "Where do I signup to be a jounin so I can be told the rest Hokage-sama?"

The tension drained away in the room and the Hokage found a smile was growing on his face at the determined look in Ranma's eyes.

"Jounin?" Kakashi asked. "I thought you might want Sarutobi's position actually, and after seeing you doing the impossible more times tonight than I ever thought I'd see in a lifetime I'd support you."

"She can have it. I'm too old for this anyway." Sarutobi laughed. "Can you imagine the faces of the council if I announced that?"

"Sorry old man but those robes are ugly. But I do have a request before I train anyone." Ranma smirked.

"What would this stipulation be?" Sarutobi asked slightly warily.

"That Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke become my official students. That way I can abuse em all in the name of training." Ranma grinned nastily. "Oh and I want ya to come to the chakra…erm…packing lessons too."

"You want to train Sasuke after what he did to you…err…Sakura?" Kakashi asked surprised.

"Of course. What better revenge than to put him through Anything Goes Martial Arts training and him having ta call me sensei? Muhahahahaha!"

Kakashi stared at the pink-haired girl suddenly having a feeling he was in over his head for once.

x X x

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7 – Sadistic bleep!

It was after one in the morning by the time Kakashi and Ranma had gotten their plans sorted out for the training that would begin later on that day and said their goodbyes to the Hokage.

It was now official. Ranma was a jounin of the leaf. However she would not be taking any active duties until certain situations had been dealt with, and even then she would have to go on a few trial missions under a team before being let out on her own.

"Sasuke-bastard is gonna flip." Ranma chuckled as she imagined the Uchiha's face when he found out she was now officially his sensei.

"I doubt flip is a strong enough word." Kakashi shrugged hands in pockets. He regarded the girl walking beside him with a lazy eye. "Are you certain this is the right way to go about it?"

"Not really." Ranma said with a shrug. "I'm hoping a short sharp shock will bring 'im round. Of course until he apologises to Sakura on his own volition I will be running him into the ground. He'll either break or become very good. Gonna be a bitch ta get him ta understand I'm older than he is."

"He is obsessed with revenge and restoring his clan." Kakashi told the girl. "I'm afraid he has a bad case of tunnel vision."

"What exactly made 'im that way?" Ranma asked interested.

"While Sasuke was young his older brother Itachi who is considered a genius by many went on a killing spree. He brutally murdered everyone in his clan aside from Sasuke." Kakashi explained. "Sasuke was found with the bodies of his parents."

Ranma stopped mid-step in horror. So that was why Sasuke was such a bastard. Ranma had thought he was just a spoiled brat who expected to the best automatically by blood. To have your parents murdered in front of your eyes by your own brother! Ranma could almost understand the boy's reaction now. Almost. It still did not give him the right to talk the way he had to Sakura.

Ranma snapped back to the real world. Kakashi was well down the street now and she had to run to catch him up. Drawing level she spoke to the copy-ninja. "You mean his brother killed all of his clan? No wonder he's obsessed. Anyone would be."

"You can see how this is a…delicate situation." Kakashi told the pink-haired girl beside him. "I've seen it many a time, someone becomes so obsessed with revenge they literally become monsters in pursuit of their goal."

Ranma nodded sadly. "I get the feeling I know that all too well."

"I see." Kakashi stated understanding that Ranma must have had a similar experience once, even if she could not remember it yet.

The rest of the return trip lasted in silence. Once at Kakashi's home he let them in and let the ANBU's that had been stationed to watch the sleeping boys know that they could return to the Hokage.

"You know…" Kakashi said. "I doubt I'll get much sleep now after what you've shown me tonight."

Ranma chuckled before poking him in the back. Kakashi began to ask what she was doing when everything suddenly went black. Ranma caught the now sleeping ninja, preventing him from falling flat on his face. After all she did not think he would appreciate waking up to a broken nose.

"Gotta love pressure points." Ranma smirked before she crawled into Sakura's sleeping bag and with practiced ease slipped into sleep.

x X x

Ranma smiled as she returned to her and Sakura's shared world. Sakura was keeping herself busy by practicing manipulating the world as Ranma had showed her.

"Hey Sakura." Ranma greeted with a cheerily wave.

"Ranma!" Sakura waved back jumping up. "How did it go? I still can't believe you poked Kakashi-sensei's butt!"

"Hey it was too good an opportunity to resist." Ranma shrugged. "As to how it went weeeeeell…"

"Tell me Oneesan!" Sakura said tugging Ranma's pigtail playfully.

"Oneesan?" Ranma blinked. "Where'd that come from?"

"We're basically twins dummy!" Sakura stated. "Now tell!"

"I'm officially Ranma jounin of the leaf now." Ranma smirked at Sakura's expression of disbelief.

"They gave you jounin rank?" she gasped.

"Actual the old man wanted me to have his job after I turned chakra on its head, created an amazing new attack and nearly destroyed his tower. I told him the robes were ugly and I didn't want it." Ranma boasted to Sakura who looked at the pig-tailed girl though half-lidded eyes.

"Yeah right."

"It's true!"

"You are such a liar Oneesan." Sakura stated.

"Seeesh! Kids." Ranma snorted. "You'll get a shock when you see my memories then."

"Riiiiiight." Sakura said rolling her eyes.

"We need to talk about training tho." Ranma stated growing serious.

"Training?" Sakura asked noting Ranma's now serious mood.

"Yeah, why don't we sit down this will take awhile." Ranma said sitting cross-legged on the ground by the fishpond she had made earlier. Sakura copied next to Ranma.

"Okay, first thing is…I'll be training you, Naruto and Sasuke-bastard in my school of taijutsu from tomorrow." Ranma stated.

"How will you train me?" Sakura asked the obvious question.

"Well, best I can come up with at the moment is I'll do the physical training of ya body as that's what I'll be doing for Naruto and Sasuke-bastard. So your body will get the training it needs. This leaves the problem of training you so ya can actually use what I train your body in." Ranma paused. "Sooooo we'll train here as well. I'm hoping anything ya learn here will go back to ya body."

Sakura nodded slowly. "I think I follow."

"Good, if it works it should bring you upta speed quickly as here we don't get tired or hurt. We should be able to go all out. Only problem I see is if ya don't get hurt here you might take a blow in your body that ya can here but can't out there."

"That's a problem." Sakura nodded. That was the reason for full contact sparing at school.

"Yeah, we'll have ta figure something else out if it's too much of a problem." Ranma said. "For the training I'm gonna get Kakashi to help us find some leg and wrist weights. I want you guys to wear em all the time."

"Errr…okay." Sakura stated less than convincingly. "And we're going to train with them on?"

"Yup." Ranma replied. "We need to build up strength and speed. This'll help with pure physical strength and speed. We can begin enhancing that strength later with ki or chakra depending on what works best."

"Why don't we just enhance our strength right away? We can already use chakra right?" Sakura asked.

Ranma grinned. "Glad ya asked. They said you were the brightest one and you spotted it. We could but then we'd be short changing ourselves." At Sakura's doubtful look Ranma continued. "When you use ya ki to boost ya strength you gain power relative to your own natural strength. Same with speed."

"So the stronger or faster you are without using chakra the better the boost when you do." Sakura understood. She still was not happy that she would have to do training while being weighted down.

"We'll also need some body hardening training but that can come later once we're used ta the weights. Now, you're good at chakra control according ta Kakashi. Better than the others are."

"Yeah." Sakura blushed at the compliment.

"Can you try and use it here?" Ranma asked.

"Okay. What should I try?"

Ranma looked thoughtful. "Something hard to do."

"I know!" Sakura stated gabbing Ranma's hand and dragging her to her feet eager to show-off. Sakura dragged Ranma over towards the large doorway and stopped to stand to the left side of it. "Okay let's see if it works."

Ranma made sure she took careful note of what Sakura was doing as the girl performed a quick hand seal and began concentrating. Ranma felt the flows as Sakura began the gathering and mixing. She was particularly interested in the mixing part Sakura was performing.

"Hmmm why does mixing the parts like that not cause such a powerful reaction like when I tried it?" Ranma asked herself quietly as to not disturb Sakura's concentration.

"Ready." Sakura announced and took a step towards the wall. She placed one foot against the wall and to Ranma's surprise then brought her other foot off the ground and started to walk vertically up the white wall. Sakura climbed about halfway up and then turned around to face Ranma with a grin and a wave. "It does work here."

"That's…that's awesome!" Ranma exclaimed as she began to think of what could be achieved with that trick. Fighting at heights or in trees you would be able to perform some really neat tricks and if you can mask your presence while using chakra, forest ambushes would be really tricky to avoid. Imagine hanging from tree branches and dropping onto your victim weapon first silently.

Sakura grinned happily.

Ranma quickly copied what she had seen Sakura do. She performed the hand seal and started to move her internal energises around. Ranma was despite her eagerness to explore the new techniques careful to use only a small amount of energy as she had no intention of becoming a mini-Ranma shaped Supernova.

Gathering the energies in her stomach as Sakura had, she found they mixed easily enough as long as you keep them moving, but the time to get them moving was still slow. Then she copied Sakura's example and directed the newly formed chakra to her feet.

"Right!" Ranma stated with a determined expression. "Let's do this!"

Ranma stepped up to the wall and placed one foot firmly against it. She then brought her other foot off the ground and promptly fell flat on her back to the amusement of Sakura who let Ranma know by giggling.

"Har har." Ranma said climbing to her feet and performing the seal again but drawing more power this time. "This time!"

Ranma placed her foot against the wall and was promptly and violently repelled across the area to land with a splash in the pond much to the amusement of Sakura who was howling in laughter.

x X x

Naruto was dreaming. Well, at least he was sure he was. He was dreaming Sakura-chan had woken him up, smiled at him and announced she had cooked breakfast for them. The pink-haired angel was laying out their breakfast right now. The food was not fancy as Kakashi only had instant stuff but Sakura-chan had made it for them so Naruto was certain it was going to be the best breakfast he had ever had.

Kakashi opened one eye and seemed to rotate on the spot to come to a sitting position, hair all tussled from a nights sleep. He regarded Sakura with a lazy eye. No that was Ranma he noted the eye colour, laying the table with plates and prepared food.

"Morning sleepyhead. Sleep well." Ranma grinned.

"Yes. Thanks? What did you do?" Kakashi frowned.

"Pressure point trick. Instant sleep spot."

"Look at all the fooood!" Naruto announced loud enough to wake Sasuke before Ranma could. She had planned on flipping the boy out of his bed as she was going to be nice this morning. Ranma grinning internally though as tomorrow the real wakeup calls would go out. Ohhhh yes she was going to enjoy finding suitable buckets today.

Naruto was reaching for the food when Ranma rapped his hand with a pair of ki reinforced chopsticks.

"Ow! What was that for?" Naruto grumbled rubbing his hand.

"Breakfast doesn't start till we're all ready." Ranma announced. She then turned to Sasuke as she had felt his eyes glaring at her again. "Morning bastard."

Sasuke grunted and glanced at the food. "Unfortunately for us your portion is not poisoned sourface." Ranma told him. Sasuke and Ranma then glared at each other. Kakashi coughed interrupting the glaring competition.

"Ranma, I think you should explain what we're doing today first."

'Ranma?' Both Sasuke and Naruto thought.

The girl nodded before sitting down at the table next to Naruto. Sasuke took the end near the girl while Kakashi sat opposite her.

"Okay, long story short I'm not Sakura." Ranma stated. Kakashi nodded having already discussed this the night before.

"I thought so." Sasuke stated eyes narrowed at the girl.

Naruto looked confused. "Eh? How can you not be Sakura-chan?"

"I'm a…well we don't know what I am yet, so think of me as a guest sharing with Sakura." Ranma said hoping that Naruto would not be too upset.

"Sharing? Is that like…" Naruto rubbed his stomach not quite willing to say the words. Ranma knew he meant the demon inside him.

"Yeah, sorta like having someone else in ya. But I'm friendly."

Sasuke was deep in thought. There was more to this, something Naruto knew about but they were not going to state it out loud. Sasuke wondered what it was but kept quiet for now.

"Oh cool." Naruto said judging the girl in front of him. He was not sure how he should feel about this.

"Anyways." Ranma said. "You can tell which of us is in control by our eyes. Mine are blue." Ranma pointed at her eyes causing Naruto to notice that for the first time. "When Sakura's in charge hers are green. Kay? Right, so the first thing today is…I'm your new sensei."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked.

Sasuke's first thought was to disagree with this but then he realised what it could mean and grinned nastily. 'Excellent that means we'll be sparing. I'll show you then Ranma.'

"Kakashi would you?" Ranma asked surprised Sasuke was grinning. 'I'll wipe that off ya face later.'

"Very well. Ranma, Sakura, the Hokage and myself had a…informative talk last night. It has been decided that Ranma will be training all of us and the Hokage himself will be joining for the chakra developing training that we'll be starting shortly."

"Chakra developing? You mean coiling?" Sasuke frowned not understanding what that was going to help with. They all did that anyway.

"No." Kakashi stated. "Although you are to continue that we will be doing exercises that are unknown except to Ranma."

All eyes turned to Ranma for an explanation.

"I'm gonna teach you to expand your reserves to levels beyond Kakashi's current ones." Ranma said. "By the time I'm done with you, you guys will be the strongest in this village."

"Stronger than oldman Hokage?" Naruto asked.

"Stronger than his current power level yeah." Ranma stated knowing that the old man would probably improve himself way faster than herself, Naruto or even Sasuke could in the time they would be training. After all, the Hokage had larger reserves already so his increases would far outstrip themselves even if they ended up stronger in the end due to starting from a younger age.

"Yes! I'll be the next Hokage soon!" Naruto began dreaming of the event.

Sasuke stared in shock. The girl was claiming that she would make them that strong? Sasuke thought about it. With that kind of strength he would be able to avenge his family. A nasty grin appeared on Sasuke's face and Ranma noticed. Time to put his plans on hold.

"However!" Ranma said stopping Naruto mid-dream. "If I think you are abusing or not capable of dealing with that kind of power I will stop your training. It is a martial artist's duty to protect those weaker than yourself. If ya ever break this code I'll hunt ya down and prevent ya from using chakra again. Believe me I know how to stunt yer coils permanently!" Ranma's voice was literally ice as she looked at each of them one at a time and Kakashi was sure the temperature in the room had dropped. "Now while we're training you'll call me sensei understood."

Kakashi nodded.

"Yes sir! Ranma-chan-sensei!" Naruto saluted looking extremely determined.

Ranma looked at Sasuke and dared him to say anything.

"Fine." Sasuke agreed grudgingly holding Ranma's stare.

"Good. Now training begins now. You may eat." Ranma told them.

"Yatta! Ranma-sensei is sooo cool!" Naruto cheered splitting his chopsticks and reaching for some food only to find it disappeared. "Wha?"

Sasuke was surprised to find the food he had picked up vanished from his chopsticks. "What the hell?"

The two boys turned to Ranma who was calmly chewing the stolen foodstuffs. Swallowing she smirked. "I said training has started right. If you want to eat you need to beat me to the food."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. 'So that was her game?'

Naruto stared at Ranma before his determined face reappeared. "You're on!"

"Ahhh! That was most delicious Ranma-sensei." Kakashi said patting his stomach with a huge grin plastered behind his mask and an empty bowl to the shock of Ranma and the boys.

'I didn't even see him take off his mask!' Ranma blinked.

x X x

Ranma walked beside Kakashi stealing wondering glances at the tall silver-haired ninja while he led them to meet Gai. Ranma had told them they needed to buy some training weights and Kakashi knew no better person to ask about leg weights than Gai. Kakashi's gait was a seemingly happy obliviousness to Ranma's puzzled looks.

'I will discover how he did that!' Ranma thought as she stared.

Behind them Naruto and Sasuke walked along with unhappy expressions. They had barely had anything to eat after that evil pink-haired monster had stolen most of their food.

"Ranma-sensei is soooo not cool." Naruto whined. His stomach agreed with a rumble.

Sasuke walked hands in pockets slouched over and had a pet lip. He glared at the pink-haired annoyance. She had gone far enough to leave bruises on his hands and arms where she had stabbed him with her chopsticks. The breakfast had ended up a chopstick brawl. Ranma even went as far as to use her chopsticks like kunai and stab food out of the air pinning it to Kakashi's walls, which had slightly annoyed the copy-ninja.

As they approached Gai's training ground a rhythmic thumping noise was heard. Ranma's head rose as she recognised the noise of flesh meeting wood and became curious.

"997, 998, 999, 1000!" came a voice counting in time with the thumping. The group entered the clearing to find Gai finishing off his morning training, sweat beading on his forehead from the thousand kicks he had just performed. The large log he had been practicing against was dented, but only in one position. A testament to his accuracy.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted his green spandex clad self-proclaimed greatest rival.

"Kakashi! My rival what brings you here?" Gai asked surprised and noted he had brought his whole team. "Have you brought your team to train here?"

"Actually no, Ranma here wants some training weights for all of them. We were wondering if you could help." Kakashi motioned towards Ranma who was staring oddly at Gai.

"Ahh! The famous newest jounin!" Gai spoke walking over interested in finally meeting the person who was now sharing a body with Sakura. The Hokage had informed various people in the village and council that needed to know about Ranma that morning.

'Jounin?' Sasuke thought in surprise looking at the girl wearing Sakura's body.

Gai and the others blinked in surprise as Ranma started shaking. Her hands came up and gripped Gai's waist. She then started patting his stomach.

"…?" the green beast was for once speechless.

"You…you…" Ranma stuttered. "You're real! Bruce Lee!!" Ranma then proceeded to melt into a puddle of giggling fangirlishness.

Kakashi and Gai exchanged a look that said 'what the hell?'

x X x

"So you're not who I thought you were." Ranma sighed after the girl had managed to recover her higher brain functions. She was actually embarrassed by her reaction from the memories of Bruce Lee films that had returned to her upon meeting Gai, blaming it on Sakura's body.

"Hahahahahah! It is pleasing to be compared to what you describe as the best of your time!" Gai roared in mirth. One more victory over Kakashi he marked down.

Kakashi looked on worried. If Ranma had an idol that was just like Gai? Kakashi shuddered. Would she make them wear that sort of clothing?

"Now to your little problem of weights. I would take you to the store's to help you increase your fires of youth but I made a nice guy promise to visit my cute student Lee each day till he recovers. So I'll just have to give you the address." Gai told Ranma.

"How is fuzzy brows anyway?" Naruto asked remembering what that Gaara boy had done to Lee.

"They don't think he'll ever be able to fight again." Gai said solemnly his deep regret visible. That was Lee's whole reason for living and now he would never be able to fulfil his dream of becoming a ninja and proving hard work could make up for any deficit.

"What happened?" Ranma asked.

"I taught Lee some techniques that put great strains on the human body. They allow you to surpass your limits but the toll is too great. I should never have taught him those moves." Gai shook his head. His opponent in the preliminaries had gone too far though.

Ranma knew how she would feel if she would not ever be able to fight again and felt that she had to have a look at the boy and see if there was anything she could do.

"May I meet your student?" Ranma asked Gai who looked interestedly at her. "I might be able to help him recover. I remember some tricks to healing quick."

"Do you think you can heal Lee?" Gai asked hopefully.

"Not directly. I don't know much about healing others but I can teach him ta help his own body to heal with some techniques." Ranma stated.

"I thank you but Lee will not be able to do that. His coils are stunted." Gai stated regrettably.

"Gai, I think you should let Ranma explain." Kakashi told Gai placing a hand on his friends shoulder. "From Ranma's explanations last night it is clear Ranma herself had stunted coils yet she says that was normal for them."

Gai looked at the girl in surprise. "Then how can you know such techniques as that tornado attack?"

"Cause there's 'nother way ta increase ki or should I say chakra that does not need coils." Ranma grinned.

x X x

Only Ranma and Gai had been able to visit Lee. The boy had been sedated as he refused to stay in bed and rest, going as far as to begin training again.

Gai watched at the pink-haired girl who was currently checking his cute student. Despite the girl's words Gai was keeping his hope bottled up. What she had told him would turn the world of chakra upside down once it became known. If Ranma could help Lee, Gai would be in her debt for life.

"This is…really intensive." Ranma said straightening up after examining the sedated boy. His right arm and leg had been crushed and the doctors had done as much as they could to set them. The boy had torn most of his muscles and Ranma had winced in sympathy at how much that would have hurt at the time and how sore the boy's body must be now. Lee also had minute fractures all over his bones as well.

"At least you tried." Gai sighed as he took the look on Ranma's face to mean the worst.

"Feh if he had ta be sedated to prevent him from training then I bet he'll learn the trick to healing quick in no time." Ranma announced impressed by the boy's tenacity making Gai look up hopefully. "I remember the technique and I get the feeling I had to use it a lot. Only problem is at this point in time he'll have to really focus to use it and it'll leave him exhausted in no time as his reserves are really low."

"Then you mean he can learn it?"

"Yeah, I think so. But it'll take time and hard work." Ranma informed him and was surprised at the huge grin that appeared on Gai's face.

"Yosh! If there's anything Lee is not afraid of its hard work!"

Ranma nodded. "If you can bring him to the lessons tomorrow and I'll try ta teach him the trick. Just make sure he don't train anymore till he is healed."

x X x

Team 7 plus one happier Gai were now on there way towards the market district. Specifically the shinobi suppliers. Gai had happily stated he would take them to the best shops so that they would get the best Gai approved equipment. Kakashi had a bad feeling about that and it felt like green-spandex.

Ranma spotted it first and it just called to her. There along the roadside was a chain-link fence. Ranma stared for a second before calling out to the group.

"Okay guys on the fence!" and with an easy hop Ranma leapt onto it.

"What the heck for?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"Because we're training and I said so. Now move your butt bastard." Ranma shouted. Sasuke growled but complied leaping up next to the girl and glaring. Naruto and Kakashi both copied as well.

"Yosh! I like this style of training!" Gai stated and with a summersault vaulted onto the fence as well.

"Well now what?" Sasuke asked clearly bored.

Ranma stared at the boy before noticing something odd. She checked Naruto and Kakashi as well. 'Bloody cheaters! They're using that wall walking technique to stick to the fence!!'

"Okay which of you three." Ranma stated pointing at Kakashi then Naruto and finally at Sasuke. "Wants ta tell me what yer doing?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked while Kakashi wondered silently.

"Doing what you asked you stupid pink bimbo!" Sasuke said increasingly annoyed. Ranma's eye twitched violently. 'Must not kill students.'

Ranma just happened to glance at Gai and noticed he was doing the exercise without chakra. 'Heh at least someone knows how to train round here.'

"Gai-san would ya like ta tell them what all three of em are doing wrong in the exercise?" Ranma asked sweetly. Gai was surprised that Ranma had asked him that and he quickly realised what she meant by looking at team 7's feet.

"They're using chakra to anchor themselves to the fence. This defeats the purpose of this exercise which is a one of balance. Am I right!" Gai finished with a ping and a nice-guy pose.

"Yosh!" Ranma said coping Gai's mannerism. "Absolutely correct. Now you three stop using chakra!"

"You want us to walk along here without chakra?" Kakashi asked with a frown but complied keeping his balance easily enough. Naruto started to wobble a little but soon got himself under control, but his stance was atrocious. Sasuke wobbled slightly but kept his bored expression.

"Right." Ranma said. "The rules are if anyone falls we stop and wait for em to get back up. If anyone uses chakra they get no dinner."

Naruto's eyes widened in panic. 'No dinner! After having no breakfast! Not again.'

Sasuke narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

"Right lets go." Ranma stated and with a sharp stamp on the fence that sent Naruto and Sasuke falling from the sudden movement. Kakashi manage to keep his balance. Ranma and Gai had no problems.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Sasuke demanded from the sidewalk.

"Get back up here losers! We need those weights before tonight!" Ranma ordered.

And so this set the trend for the fence walking exercise. Ranma started to make increasingly hard to balance from problems ranging from just making the fence wobble to going out of her way to trip em up. Gai caught on as well and soon Ranma and Gai were working on knocking Kakashi off. Of course each of their attempts usually depositing Naruto and Sasuke on the ground. Kakashi was good though Ranma admitted.

However Gai finally succeeded. It was just before the fence ended and during another of the stops waiting for Naruto to climb back up Gai leapt over to stand in front of Kakashi.

"Excuse me Kakashi, I need to tie my shoelaces." Gai stated and bent over. That was it. As Gai's spandex suit revealed things Kakashi never wanted to ever lay eyes upon, his visible eye went wide before he covered it with his arm like a vampire exposed to sunlight. His other hand making warding gestures.

"By the gods noooooo!"

Ranma used the distraction to wobble the fence and poor Kakashi's legs decided it would be good for one to go one way and the other to go the other way. Gravity took over.

"I'm a girl and even I felt that." Ranma said in sympathy watching the copy-ninja whimper.

x X x

Sarutobi sighed as he continued with the most terrifying part of the Hokage's job. Paperwork. As he read or signed various documents the glazers continued to replace the windows. Most of the damage caused with Ranma's experiment had been cleaned up aside from the windows. It was drafty working with no windows.

Sarutobi felt the draft vanish and felt an aura he had been looking for for a while now.

"Welcome back Jiraiya." Sarutobi spoke to the man who was behind him.

x X x

Team 7 were sat in the centre of training ground eating lunch. Ranma had decided to lay off stealing food for the moment as the weights made them all too sluggish. Gai had paid for the weights as a thank you for Ranma as she was going to help Lee. Ranma had told him she had not helped Lee yet but he has insisted.

"Okay, we're gonna spar now." Ranma stated after she had emptied her bento.

Sasuke's face lifted and he smirked. 'Finally.'

Naruto looked on eagerly.

"We're gonna have two on one matches with a couple of rules. No dangerous moves. If you pull a move like that you will not be continuing with any of my training. Second point is the team of two must not use chakra at all. Thirdly the person alone can use chakra." Ranma stated. "Kakashi will make sure no one cheats right."

"But why's Kakashi not joining us for this?" Naruto asked.

"Cause he's already physically good enough." Ranma stated. "This physical training is for our benefit. We need ta bring our strength, speed and endurance up. So either of you two wants ta be the one who can use chakra?"

"Me! Me!" Naruto waved grinning.

"Okay, Naruto is it. Bastard you an' me have ta take 'im down." Ranma told Sasuke.

"Shame. I wanted you to be it." Sasuke stated with a shrug.

"Well then." Ranma said standing up. "Let's go!"

x X x

Ranma lay on her back breathing heavily. Boy the weights really made a difference when you could not use ki or chakra. Thankfully Sasuke was in as bad condition. Sadly she had had to drop out first.

Naruto had proven very difficult to take down. The boy would shrug off her or Sasuke's best unenhanced blows easily and his stamina was unbelievable. Here they were exhausted yet the blond boy was trying to get them to continue. Even the weights had not slowed him any.

Ranma raised a shaky arm. "That's…enough…for…now." And let the arm drop back to the ground. Ranma realised Sakura's body had a long way to go yet before she would be happy with it.

Strangely Ranma noted someone had been watching them. Someone damn good at hiding as Ranma could not detect their aura, the only reason Ranma noticed was a faint flash of white in the bushes. During the sparing session she had made her way over and found the telltale signs of a person's presence among the bushes, but nothing else.

x X x

Ranma stepped out the door of the public baths. As Kakashi did not have an actual bathing area in his tiny home they had to use the public baths. That had felt good after being through that sparring session. Yet strangely uncomfortable, she kept feeling that she might get into trouble at anytime. It was weird.

The sparring though had given her an idea of exactly how much stamina Naruto had to outlast both her and Sasuke attacking continuously while wearing weights. Ranma was seriously impressed and had decided Naruto would be the measuring stick to gauge their improvements in stamina. So until she or Sasuke could keep up they would use Naruto as 'it'.

Ranma stretched and paused in surprise at the sound of perverse giggling. Looking over to her right she saw that there was a man crouched by the large wooden fence that surrounded the female side of the baths. Ranma could make out he was wearing a white gi with a large sleeveless red overcoat. His white spiky hair was tied at the base of his neck and the rest must have almost reached the floor. He appeared to be carrying a rather large scroll on his back as well.

'A pervert!' Ranma glared clenching her fist. She narrowed her eyes as a flash of deep hatred towards perverts filled her head. Ranma made her mind up and decided to ruin this guy's day.

She approached the giggling pervert calmly and with no hint of violence and stopped to stand behind him.

"Excuse me mister, but what are you doing?" Ranma asked sweetly.

The man stopped giggling and slowly turned his face to her. Ranma noted he wore a forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' and had two red markings running down his face from under his eyes. The man looked at her and sighed in relief.

"Oh, just a little girl." He stated and returned to peeping. Ranma felt her eye twitch in annoyance. 'A little girl!'

Ranma pushed the guys face out of the way and glanced through the hole. Yep the guy was defiantly peeping. Ranma found herself pushed back and she nearly fell over.

"Hey you pervert! What are mhhhmmpt!" Ranma growled.

"Sssshhh!" the man hissed a finger in front of his face as he put his other hand against Ranma's lips silencing her. "Do you want to get me caught?"

Ranma slapped the man's hand away answered. "Yes!"

The man glared at her annoyed. "Do you know who I am?"

"A pervert!"

The man's eye twitched before he posed before Ranma. "I am Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin also know as Toad Sennin! Remember it!"

"You're still just a pervert." Ranma stated unimpressed.

"I'm not a pervert…" Toad Sennin stated angrily. "I'm a SUPER PERVERT! Muaheheheheh!" He pulled a creepy face and held his hands up with his fingers wiggling suggestively.

Ranma was actually repulsed enough to step back from the guy. 'Creepy!'

"Now I must return to my data gathering. Run along and play little girl. You're too young for me. Come back in a few years." The Toad Sennin said returning to his peeping.

Ranma glared before stepping behind him and crouching. She formed the 'seal' for a thousand years of pain and pumped as much cold ki into her hands as she could.

"Ten thousand years of pain! Pervert destroyer!!" and proceeded to jab her freezing cold hands into a sensitive place and launched the pervert up high into the sky. The guy shrieked all the way up and all the way down as well, where he landed with a splash in the woman's baths. There were shrieks of feminine rage and the sounds of a smackdown occurring. Ranma blew the tips of her fingers. Job well done.

End Chapter 7

Notes :-

No Ranma is not stronger than Jiraiya, at the moment anyway :P (for the time he's letting her hit him although he didn't expect to land in the baths).

Jiraiya is one of my fave Naruto characters, dunno why but so far he's the only pervert I actually have liked in anime :S

**Chapter 8 – The Pervert's Challenge!**

The sun had just peeked over the horizon as a slowly waking up Konohana started to go about the morning routines. Birds were chirping and there were only a couple of fluffy white clouds dotting the sky. Two shrieks of shock filled the air…

A gloating Ranma stood over Sasuke with two empty wooden buckets casually held over her shoulders. Both Naruto and Sasuke had been soaked to the bone by Ranma's wakeup call and were only starting to realise what had occurred.

"Get moving you lazy peons!" Ranma smirked as Sasuke finally clicked and glared at the girl intensely.

"Die!" Sasuke roared reaching for any available weapon and was interrupted as a wooden bucket was dropped on his head. "Mghmgmf!" the boy raged attempting to pull the bucket off. Ranma did a quick swipe of his legs and Sasuke was down. This left Naruto who was almost as annoyed to deal with.

"What did you do that for?" Naruto shouted launching himself at Ranma who casually swung the bucket around to clip the blond boy's chin knocking him to the ground as well.

Ranma then dropped the bucket to the ground and stepped on it to lean towards the two angry boys, one arm crossed over her leg and an evil grin. By now Sasuke had managed to retract his head from the bucket leaving his hair a greater mess than usual.

"No breakfast till we've sparred! Catch me!" Ranma informed them before running off. The front door was slammed open as the girl ran outside. Naruto looked at Sasuke and for once they both agreed on something.

"She's gonna pay!" Sasuke growled as the two soaked boys leapt to their feet and chased after her.

Kakashi yawned and scratched an itchy spot as he watched the morning's entertainment exit the room. "My, my. They're certainly noisy first thing."

x X x

Anyone who happened to be up early enough and passing by would be surprised to see one pink-haired girl being chased by two boys. Said girl was throwing insults and pulling faces as she bounced, dodged, flipped and generally avoided everything the other two threw at her.

"Stand still and die!" Sasuke shouted throwing more shuriken at the pink-haired menace.

"Right I'm gonna do that!" Ranma shouted back twisting around the shuriken almost lazily before back flipping over Naruto who had attempted to grab her from behind only to have to twist and avoid Naruto again?

Ranma blinked at the two Narutos while back-pedalling. 'Huh?'

Ranma was forced to lean backwards as Sasuke tried to take her head off with a kick and while in this position she saw another Naruto race towards her. 'How is he doing that?'

Sasuke saw Ranma was distracted by the Naruto-bunshin and jumped into a spinning kick that should land as Ranma came back up. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Ranma somehow managed to grab the attacking Naruto and swing him around to become a shield. The Naruto puffed out of existence from the kick and before Sasuke had chance to attack again Ranma was leaping away to higher ground.

Landing on a nearby roof Ranma analyzed what Naruto seemed able to do. 'Somehow he's creating a copy of 'imself. And it's not just an illusion but solid. One hit will take it out but that's one tricky technique. Never knew he was that good.'

"Get her guys!" a dozen voices called out above her and Ranma looked up. At least ten Naruto-bunshins dive-bombed towards the pink-haired girl who stood still for a second in a strange stance before she faded from view.

"What!?" Sasuke and the Narutos wondered in shock as the all landed on the roof.

"Where'd she go?" one Naruto asked.

"How'd she do that?" another wondered aloud.

"Huh?" one stated before poofing out of existence. One by one the Naruto clones where being destroyed.

"Move!" Sasuke shouted leaping away to land on the roof opposite. The Narutos all jumped to different places too. The real Naruto landed by Sasuke.

"What's happening?" Naruto asked Sasuke who was wondering the same thing as he activated the Sharingan. As Sasuke watched another Naruto-bunshin was destroyed but this time he saw Ranma appear for a second behind the bunshin. Ranma sent a few quick jabs to the back of the clone's neck and it poofed out of existence. Ranma then faded away once more.

"Not possible!" Sasuke shouted in shock as Ranma disappeared from sight. 'The Sharingan can't even see her!'

"Awww man, she's beating my clones." Naruto whined as another one was destroyed. He was running out of clones fast. "I'll make some more!"

"Don't bother idiot." Sasuke stated watching the seconds Ranma was visible intensely. "She'll just pick them off one by one like the others." Sasuke watched on internally kicking himself that he had not used the Sharingan till now. 'I missed what she did when she vanished.'

The last of Naruto's clones was now alone and spinning in circles trying to sense the girl. This was a scary technique, as bad as Zabuza's silently killing in the mist one.

"Last one." Ranma whispered in the clone's ear before it vanished as well.

"Errr…Sasuke we're the only ones left." Naruto whispered as the memory of a ghostly voice whispering in his ear came to him from the clone.

"Quickly cover our backs." Sasuke said backing into Naruto and pulling out a kunai. Naruto did the same covering Sasuke. "She was attacking from behind every time. It's an assassin's technique…she'll have to drop it to do a frontal assault."

The two boys stood back to back for what felt like an age to them before a breeze went past.

"Hey, guys sparring over!" Ranma stated happily from a few feet away waving something. "Oh yeah…you guys missing anything?"

Naruto and Sasuke blinked at the girl as she announced the session was over while waving clothes that looked suspiciously like Naruto's jumpsuit and Sasuke's shirt and shorts.

"Wha?" Sasuke blinked and then looked down to find himself standing in only his blue with little red and white fans boxer shorts. Naruto also found himself in the same state.

"What the HELL!" Sasuke shouted pointing accusingly at the smirking girl.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone's a hypocrite." An amused voice called out from behind Ranma causing the girl to spin around in surprise. Ranma's eyes went wide as she took in the sight of the pervert from the baths behind her arms crossed over his chest and smirking down at her. "Such a perverted little girl. Stripping those poor boys so she can peep on em."

"Who is that?" Naruto asked forgetting his state of dress for the moment.

"Glad you asked!" Jiraiya replied posing dramatically. "I'm…"

"A pervert." Ranma stated cutting Jiraiya's introduction off.

"Must you steal my thunder as well as their clothes pervert-chan?" Jiraiya asked annoyed at the interruption.

"I'm not a pervert! Frog Sennin!" Ranma growled stamping a foot and glaring up at Jiraiya. Jiraiya leaned down to look Ranma in the eye hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.

"That's Toad Sennin!"

"Whatever pervert." Ranma waved absently.

"You're the one stealing clothes not me." Jiraiya stated. "That makes you a bigger pervert than me. I look but don't touch."

"Wow, I never knew girls were perverted." Naruto stated interested in such news. Ranma's face went pink in annoyed embarrassment before she tossed the two boys their clothes.

"That still doesn't answer who you are?" Sasuke stated pulling on his shorts.

"I told ya's. He's a pervert." Ranma said.

"I told you I'm not a pervert! I'm a super pervert!" Jiraiya said pulling a repeat performance from the bath's fingers wiggling. Ranma leapt away from the guy to hide behind Naruto arms crossed over her chest protectively.

"Gah!!" she shuddered looking pale.

Sasuke stared at the freaky looking guy and then back at Ranma. 'This guy is able to scare her so easily! I wonder…'

Ranma noticed Sasuke's smirk as he started to raise his hands and she sent him the nastiest look he had ever seen. "Try it and I'll break every one of them." For once Sasuke actually listened and changed his movement to place his arms behind his head instead, trying to appear unfazed.

"What do ya want?" Ranma demanded stepping forward once again. "If ya want another beating I'll be glad ta!"

"Glad you asked!" Jiraiya pointed at her. "As one pervert to another I challenge you!"

"I. Am. Not. A. Pervert." Ranma ground out her left eye twitching violently.

"Really? You go around stealing boy's clothes off their backs and copped a feel of my magnificent posterior. How does that not make you a pervert?" Jiraiya asked amused as Naruto and Sasuke both stepped away from the girl in shock.

'She felt up this old man?' Naruto thought feeling ill.

Ranma glared. She was pissed. This guy was annoying and she was so going to enjoy smacking the jerk around.

"Fine! You want a fight you got one!" Ranma began stomping towards Jiraiya who made calming gestures.

"A fight? I don't want to fight." Jiraiya stated stopping Ranma in her tracks.

"If ya don't want ta fight then what?"

"I have decided to impart my vast wisdom upon you guys! I bet you'll be impressed by what I can teach you! My challenge is for you to learn my techniques!"

x X x

"We're here!" Jiraiya announced as the group stood outside the public baths. Ranma had her head in her hands shaking.

"Why're we here?" Naruto asked.

"Because he's gonna peep and use us as an excuse!" Ranma growled.

"A cunning plan." Jiraiya pondered. "But no I'm going to show you guys something cool."

The three young ninja's looked on interested at what the self proclaimed super pervert would do.

Jiraiya smirked at them. "I take it you've been shown the tree climbing exercise in charka control?"

Three nods.

"Good. Because this is the next step so to speak." Jiraiya stepped towards the hot spring in front of the group. "Now watch this." Focusing for a second the toad sennin stepping onto the water and proceeded to walk across it. Stopping in the middle of the spring he turned to the group. "Well what do you think of that?"

Naruto spoke first. "Wow! That's so cool."

Sasuke was impressed but did not let it show. 'This guy might be worth learning from after all. Plus he annoys her.'

"Feh. Seen that done before." Ranma stated bored. She was not going to be impressed by the pervert. No siree! Not at all.

"Well…" Jiraiya slowly began as he looked them over. "If you walk over here I'll show you something even better."

"Yes! I will definitely get there!" Naruto informed them and proceeded to focus his chakra to his feet as with the tree climbing exercise. With a determined expression he stepped out onto the spring and promptly disappeared under the water. A second later a bright pink Naruto surfaced shouting.

"Oh, by the way the water is a bit warm." Jiraiya smirked.

Ranma glanced at Sasuke who smiled at her. "Ladies first."

Ranma's glance turned into a glare. "Fine." Ranma growled and with lots of muttering about jerks and perverts she walked over to the edge of the spring.

"Yow!!" Naruto shrieked again as he fell back in on his second attempt.

Ranma ignored the splashing and focused on the technique. Going over in her head what Sakura had taught her of the tree climbing exercise she knew too much would repel her and too little would send her into the water. Ranma watched the water ripple.

'This is gonna be harder than just plain sticking ta walls. The water's constantly moving so the chakra will have to be constantly adjusted too.' Ranma thought. 'He's no ordinary pervert.'

"Heh, I'm waiting little girl." Jiraiya mocked as Ranma hesitated. Ranma glared at him for a second before focusing her energy. She calmly placed one foot just above the water's surface and began adjusting her chakra. Ranma soon started to figure out what was needed as her experiments continued. 'Got it.'

With a smirk Ranma stepped onto the water, she sank a little the water covering her toes but she soon got that under control as well. 'Now the really hard part.' Ranma thought. 'Walking.'

'Damn she learns fast.' Jiraiya thought to himself. He had actually hoped she would fail a few times so he could mock her some more. Seems she hated being called a little girl.

Ranma's first few steps were more like skating than walking but with each step she lifted her feet that little bit more until like Jiraiya did first she managed to walk. Stepping up to the pervert she smirked at him. "Well…if that's ta best ya can do I'm disappointed."

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Naruto was shouting as he once again dropped into the water. He was now a nice light red colour.

Sasuke frowned at Ranma's performance. This now meant he would have to get this technique down on the first go. He would not be shown up by Ranma again. Sasuke made sure she went first so he could watch what she had done and he was pretty sure how she went about it.

As Ranma had Sasuke started by using one foot to analyse how to go about it and soon he too was making his way across the spring to both Naruto and Ranma's annoyance. Sasuke gave Ranma a smarmy smirk as he drew along side the girl casually.

Naruto was mad by now. He was boiling and had stripped to just his underwear. "This time!" Naruto growled and promptly fell in the spring again.

'His chakra is messed up.' Jiraiya thought a serious expression on his face as he walked over to the blond boy who was now sitting glaring at the spring.

"Pull out your charka again." Jiraiya told Naruto.

"Huh?"

"Just do it." Jiraiya sighed. Naruto focused and started to bring out his chakra. As he did the seal on his abdomen came into view.

'So this is the sealing method used to seal the nine-tails. Two four elephant seals…a double seal…maybe the Hakke seal method." Jiraiya pondered the design. 'It's set up to allow some of the nine-tails chakra to leak out and mix with the kids own. It's to protect this kid right 4th?'

Staring closer at the design Jiraiya noticed something else. 'But that has been stopped by a five part seal. Even and odd seal methods ontop of each other…his chakra and the nine-tails can't mix. No wonder he can't control chakra very well. Most likely another person did the second one, the style is rough. Heh, looks like Orochimaru's work.'

"Come over here kid." Jiraiya ordered Naruto who grumbled but compiled. "Now raise your hands like this." Jiraiya said raising both his arm straight up in the air.

"Why?" Naruto wondered before Jiraiya slammed his fist into Naruto's unprotected stomach. As he removed his fingers the odd seal evaporated. Naruto crumpled with his breath knocked out of him. While the blond boy began coughing Ranma charged over to crouch by Naruto. With a glare at Jiraiya she shouted. "What did ya do that for?"

"I hit a pressure point to relax him." Jiraiya explained. "Hey kid, try it now."

Naruto still hurting gave the toad sennin a puzzled look. Ranma hovered but Naruto stood up on his own easy enough before he reattempted the exercise. This time he walked across the spring perfectly.

"I don't understand. But it works!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

'That was no pressure point.' Ranma thought to herself as she watched Naruto now prancing about on the water.

"Okay you guys are pretty good after all." Jiraiya said with a grin. "But this will really blow your mind! Come over here."

The group followed Jiraiya as he wandered around the spring looking at the trees. Finding one of a particular thickness he stopped them with a hand raised.

"Right watch this." Jiraiya said holding his hand out palm facing upwards. A small swirling sphere of chakra appeared in his hand which then rapidly grew, churning away to roughly the size of a basketball.

"This…" stated Jiraiya noting he had all three's attention. "is called the Rasengan. It took Yondaime Hokage three years to develop."

'Looks like a ki-blast.' Ranma thought interestedly. 'But mixed with physical energy. I bet it does some damage.'

"But what does it do?" Sasuke asked. 'It seems this guy is more than he let's on.'

"Watch." Jiraiya said before slamming the chakra sphere into the tree. Bark and wood chippings flew spinning away as the chakra ball tore through the tree with a noise like a high-speed saw. Jiraiya let the chakra evaporate away and stepped back to allow them a good view of the results. A sphere was now missing from the tree.

"Wow!" Naruto stated.

'I have to learn that!' Sasuke thought images of vengeance running through his head.

"Not bad." Ranma stated examining the damage. 'That would be nasty when used on a person. Why would a stranger teach a move like this to kids?'

"Not bad?" Jiraiya gasped then glared at the girl. "I'd like to see you do something like that."

"Yeah." Sasuke agreed with the toad sennin. "Why don't you do something like that then Ranma? Bet you can't."

"As if a little girl could do anything better." Jiraiya mocked egging the girl on. 'Now Ranma show me what you can do. I expect to be impressed.'

Ranma bristled as expected. "Fine! You want impressive I'll give ya impressive!"

Ranma glared at them before holding both of her hands out. Focusing on one she created a ki sphere slightly bigger than her first try of this. In her other hand a ball of pure physical energy grew into existence. Again drawing equal amounts of both left two different sized spheres.

'So she can manipulate both halves of raw chakra independently.' Jiraiya thought in awe. 'Just like Sarutobi said she could. No wonder Orochimaru would be interested in this Ranma. I must not let him get to her.'

Sasuke frowned at the two spheres Ranma had created. Neither felt like chakra to him. When the first one had appeared he thought Ranma had reproduced the attack just demonstrated but he soon noticed the sphere was perfectly still and not churning away like Jiraiya's attack. Then she had created another sphere much smaller and of a different colour.

"You guys should step back this could be violent." Ranma smirked over her shoulder before bringing both spheres together to meet inside the tree. Her hands had stopped on the outside but she forced the two together inside the tree with her control. Once she was satisfied they had began reacting Ranma back flipped away quickly to what she hoped was a safe distance and using the newly taught chakra anchoring technique locked her feet to the ground. She also put her fingers in her ears remembering the boom.

Sasuke waited for something to happen but it seemed to have done nothing. "Feh, I thought you said something would happen." Then he noticed the way Ranma had braced herself.

He turned back to the tree when Naruto gasped. The ball had expanded enough to now push its way through the bark of the tree and was still expanding. The top half of the tree was now separated and gravity had taken over. As it fell into the sphere it was consumed. Sasuke's eyes widened at the silent destruction of matter.

The ball of energy finally stopped at around six feet in diameter before rapidly shrinking away leaving a vacuum where it had once been. The sphere seemed to vanish or at least shrunk to a point where it was no longer visible.

"That was…" Jiraiya started to say but stopped as he noticed Ranma was still braced. He glanced back at the area in time for the shockwave to explode out. Jiraiya was forced to brace himself as the winds hit first and the massive boom sounded a fraction afterwards. Sasuke and Naruto were flung away by the blast of air as it ripped past them.

Ranma unplugged her ears once the winds stopped and with a smirk turned to the stunned observers. "And that is what I call Supernova."

x X x

Kabuto stared at what he had just witnessed from his position just out of sight from the group that were picking themselves back up. The girl had just done what he believed to be separately control the two raw elements that made up chakra. Then she had somehow fused them back together to create a nasty reaction. The potency of that reaction was astounding. Such a tiny amount of energy to produce such powerful results.

'Heh, I was right. You did turn out far more interesting than Sasuke.'

x X x

The group was to be found eating breakfast at a stand shortly after Ranma's demonstration of mass destruction. Ranma ate with a smug grin on her face. Naruto was asking how to do both attacks alternating between Jiraiya and Ranma.

"So how do you do that Rasengan?" Naruto asked Jiraiya for the twentieth time.

"I'll tell you guys later." Jiraiya absently remarked still analysing what he could deduce from Ranma's attack.

"Awww. Ranma what did you do? Teach me!" Naruto whined, asked and demanded all at once.

"I drew out raw physical energy and raw ki and mixed em together outside and boom!" Ranma said smirking.

"Bull!" Sasuke finally spoke up slamming his bowl on the counter. "That's not possible!"

"Really." Ranma drawled slowly. "And why not? Cause that's what I saw happened. Twice now."

"Because if that explosion happens when you mixed the two we'd all explode the first time we used chakra idiot!" Sasuke shouted at her.

"Details, details." Ranma casually waved Sasuke off knowing it would infuriate the boy more.

Sasuke ground his teeth. Gods she was so annoying! Annoying and powerful. Damn was she powerful. Sasuke had believed he was catching the girl up as they both achieved the water walking first go but now? Now he felt so far behind it was not funny.

'The boy does have a point.' Jiraiya agreed internally before noting Kakashi had found them.

"Yo."

"Hello Kakashi, long time eh." Jiraiya stated drawing the others attention to the copy-ninja. "Sorry about stealing them but I needed to get them alone and all."

"Heh no problem Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi stated calmly sitting on a stool next to Sasuke. "Someone's upset." He noted nodded at Sasuke who just ignore the one-eyed ninja to continue glaring at Ranma.

"Jiraiya-sama?" all three kids blinked and looked at the older man in surprise.

"Didn't you know?" Kakashi asked amused. "Jiraiya-sama here is one of the three legendary ninjas."

"Dunno about ninja…maybe a legendary pervert!" Ranma stated.

"Like I said pervert-chan, it takes one to know one. Acting all innocent when in reality you run around copping a feel of men's behinds." Jiraiya said.

"I did not cop a feel!" Ranma roared pointing at the pervert. "It was the improved version of one thousand years of pain!"

Kakashi sensing a chance at revenge absently stated. "Funny you should say that Jiraiya, she did that to me too. I suddenly feel violated."

"Eh?" Naruto leaned away from Ranma. "You felt up Kakashi-sensei?"

Ranma hung her head and growled. Kakashi and Jiraiya smiled at each other. Victory. While Ranma was plotting how to hide the bodies Kakashi ordered some food. Ranma glanced up. 'Ha! A chance to see him eat again. This time I'll see his trick.'

"Fancy meeting you guys here." Kabuto said as he dropped into the last free seat next to Ranma.

"Kabuto-san!" Naruto smiled before turning serious. "Careful Kabuto-san apparently she like feeling up guys."

Ranma sprang at Naruto and got him in a headlock. "Don't say such stupid things!"

"Ahhh." Kakashi stated put his bowl down finished much to Ranma's lack of amusement.

"Damn you Naruto!" she shouted squeezing the headlock tighter to Naruto's shouts of "Ow!".

"Oh I hope you don't hurt Naruto-kun too much Sakura." Kabuto said smiling at the girl. "I really wouldn't want you to make his head _explode_. I would not like to be near that _reaction_."

Ranma blinked at Kabuto the way he had spoken explode and reaction set Ranma on edge somehow. With a last tug Ranma released Naruto's head and glanced at Kabuto strangely.

"How is your neck?" Kabuto asked smiling.

"My neck?" Ranma blinked and narrowed her eyes. "What about my neck?"

'Ooooh seems she's caught on.' Kabuto thought amused.

"I thought you had hurt it during the second test. You seemed to be holding it funny."

"It's fine." Ranma said eyeing the guy with glasses beside her. Something was fishy about him.

"Good to hear. Well I'm running late. See you around." Kabuto waved before leaving. Ranma watched him carefully.

"I see ya checking him out pervert-chan." Jiraiya whispered in Ranma's ear.

"Die pervert!"

x X x

The group made their way towards the Hokage's tower mostly in good spirits. Well Sasuke was as usual these days trying to set Ranma on fire with his eyes. It was a good thing the Sharingan did not give a person heat vision.

Ranma was glaring with a similar intensity at Jiraiya. The pervert had somehow gotten her into a hold she could not escape from. He told her to apologise for attacking him and when she did not he began his finger wiggling in front of her face. Ranma complied quickly after that.

As they came to the main doorway Gai was seen waiting with Lee who was sat in a wheelchair. It still looked battered and tired but was in high spirits.

"Yosh! Ranma are the fires of youth burning today?" Gai greeted Ranma with a wave.

"I wish something was burning." Ranma snorted glancing in Jiraiya's direction. She turned her attention to Lee who looked at her all hopeful

"Hey Lee, first time I get to speak with you." Ranma stated.

"Yes Ranma-san. Is it true that you and Sakura are sharing?" Lee asked still not sure how that worked.

"Yeah." Ranma said. "Are you ready to work hard then? Cause from what Gai told me you're going to be starting well behind these guys."

"Do you really believe I can learn to use chakra effectively?" Lee asked hopefully.

"Hey, anyone can with enough effort." Ranma said confidently.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted only to have Ranma grab his raised hand.

"Don't celebrate yet Lee. It might take you years to gain enough energy to keep up with others." Ranma told the wheelchair bound boy. "But as you've trained your body extensively and should know its limits better than the others you might surprise us all."

Lee stared at the girl no goddess in front of him with adoration in his big eyes, which this being Ranma she completely missed it or took it for something else. "I will work my hardest to prove my worth to you!"

"Cool." Ranma said letting go of Lee's hand. "Shall we?"

The now by two larger group made their way up to the room the Hokage had set aside for this training. Ranma had asked that they have a largish room so they would be able to perform flashy moves if necessary.

Once inside Ranma was pleased to note the various charts on chakra and diagrams of the coils and flows.

"Good day all." The Hokage greeted them warmly as they walked over to the area he had set aside for the theory side of the lesson. There where three decent sized sofas arrange in a semicircle around a single chair. Ranma noted that must be for her so everyone would be able to see her easy. "Are we all ready to have everything we know and understand about chakra turned upside-down?" Sarutobi joked.

A couple of chuckles from the group sounded out before Sarutobi motioned them to take seats. Once everyone was sat he motioned for Ranma to start.

"Right…erm…where to begin eh?" Ranma wondered.

"Start with the definition Ranma. That's usually a good place." Sarutobi told her.

"Kay. What you call chakra is two energies. One part physical and the other part spiritual. I call the spiritual part ki as that what I was taught." Ranma told the group. "All my training was with the spiritual part only so when it comes ta the physical side I'm probably behind everyone in this room."

"I'm sure we'll correct you if you're wrong." Sarutobi said causing a couple of smiles.

"Right. What we're going to do is pack more ki and er…physical energy into your flows. I mean coils right?" Ranma stated.

"So the question is…how?" Kakashi spoke up.

"You've all done meditation and focusing exercises right?" Ranma asked and a round of nods filled the room. "This part is pretty simple really. You just focus all your power into ya coils."

"That's it?" Sasuke asked surprised. "How does that make you any stronger?"

"It doesn't." Ranma sighed. "Not directly. You have to hold it tightly right on your limit for an extended period of time. The more you get used to holding the more you can start holding and you keep building from there. Not only is it harder than it sounds but it's also dangerous if you ignore the signs of going too far. Not enough ki and it's no benefit. Too much and you can burn out." Ranma looked around the room. "Which is why we trained our bodies till we knew our limits. If ya just go holding masses of power you'll screw up. Big time."

"This is interesting because it is probably why people began to coil their pathways instead." Sarutobi proposed.

"That or ya don't need years and years of training before ya can successfully begin using ki." Ranma said. "A shortcut."

"So how shall be begin training?" asked Gai.

"Dunno." Ranma shrugged. "As I know most about ki maybe if you guys can start pulling ki out instead of mixing it we can go from there."

"Very well. Ranma if you would demonstrate pure ki then." Sarutobi asked.

Ranma with a smile held her hand out and generated a basketball sized ball of ki. The whole room leaned in closer to study what she was doing.

"Interesting." Jiraiya stated rubbing his chin thoughtful while examining the flows. "Only moving one side."

Everyone in the room began trying to copy the flows that Ranma was using, aside from Lee who had no idea how to begin. Ranma noticed and stood up after allowing the ki to evaporate and walked over to stand behind Lee. She placed her hands on his shoulders gently.

"Okay Lee I'm going to take you through this seeing as you don't seem to know like the others do." Ranma stated.

"How?" Lee asked not quite understanding how Ranma would do that.

"Easy. I'm going ta try and draw ki from you through me. When I do that ya should be able ta feel what I do. Then it's just copying it. Right hold out your good hand."

Lee did as Ranma asked and Ranma put her hand under Lee's outstretched one. "Okay let's see ya ki eh?"

Ranma focused on Lee's flows and as she had been told they were straight just as she remembered her own. Ranma was pleasantly surprised to find Lee had a good amount for a total beginner. Would be enough to display something with. 'Must have been his physical training.'

Going slowly so Lee could feel what she was doing Ranma redirected the ki into Lee's hand and then into the air just above it.

"Feel that Lee?" Ranma asked the boy who nodded in almost shock. He could feel the flow for the first time in his life. "Now let's try and make it visible. I'm gonna use confidence so it should be blue."

Ranma concentrated and a faint ball of blue energy manifested itself. Sweat began beading on Lee's forehead. This display was taking its toll on him so Ranma stopped the flow and let it evaporate harmlessly.

"That…that was hard." Lee gasped once the flow stopped with a smile on his face. He had really felt his internal energies today.

Ranma patted Lee's shoulder. "It get easier the more you practice. Just like everything else. Keep at it Lee."

"Yosh! I will train this everyday!" Lee said enthusiastically.

"Anyone else get it yet?" Ranma asked.

x X x

As the time wore on Ranma was getting less certain they were actually going to be able to achieve this. Out of the lot of them only Jiraiya had made any progress in drawing ki out. He had basically managed to create a ball that was slightly more ki than physical. The rest only managed to create either nothing or a half and half mixed version.

"Let's stop a minute." Ranma said tiredly.

"It would seem our training is preventing us from achieving this." Sarutobi stated disappointed.

"Maybe." Ranma said. "I can do both so it's possible."

"More than likely it is because you were trained to use only one as a separate entity." Sarutobi said. "So it is easier for you to pull one or the other or combine them."

"Perhaps we should try to compress them both at the same time?" Kakashi proposed.

"Well…it might work." Ranma said interested. "If both are kept separate while flowing it might work. Should I try it?"

Sarutobi thought about it. "If you are careful…"

"I'm always careful." Ranma stated.

"Yes like in my study?" Sarutobi asked.

"Hehe not my brightest moment." Ranma said rubbing the back of her head embarrassed. "Well I'll go slowly."

Ranma began to focus on both flows and gradually began to build the energies to maximum. So far it was going well and soon Ranma began to produce her aura although this time physical energy was flowing around as well.

Sarutobi watched carefully for any crazy reactions but as Ranma was keeping the energies separate nothing seemed to be reacting. Ranma was soon at Sakura's body's limit and she started to hold the energies in an attempt to increase them.

"Heh. This is going well." Ranma stated making sure everyone was watching closely.

"I take it you're at the limit now?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah, don't wanna take it much further than…" Ranma started to talk when a huge wave of pain shot down her spine from the base of her neck. Ranma dropped to her knees in agony barely able to hear concerned voices calling her name. 'What is this?'

When Ranma dropped Sarutobi had sprang up and ran over to the screaming girl. Something had gone wrong and as he reached her he saw it. The cursed seal was spreading out from the spot on her neck and now seemed to be sucking Ranma's aura into itself.

"The cursed seal!" Sarutobi gasped. "Ranma!"

Ranma managed to glance up at him before she collapsed her aura burning brighter even though she had fallen unconscious.

**Chapter 9 – Saving Jounin Ranma**

Sarutobi cursed as he was forced to watch as Ranma collapsed face first onto the floor. The cursed seal had spread across the back of the girl's neck but seemed to not be expanding any further. Instead it seemed to have latched onto the girl's aura and like a parasite was feeding, drawing the girl's chakra for its own use.

"Jiraiya, Kakashi I need your help to contain the seal." Sarutobi told the Toad sennin and copy-ninja before turning to Gai. "Gai take Naruto, Sasuke and Lee. Get them out of here. We need time to work and distractions will only slow us down." Sarutobi commanded.

"But…" Naruto started but Gai stopped him.

"Don't Naruto. You can't help here we'd only be in the way." Gai stated seriously. With a last worried glance at Ranma, Naruto followed Gai as he wheeled Lee out.

Sasuke followed slowly watching as the three older ninja's went to work beginning to draw seals around the girl. He remembered Kakashi's words about the curse seal. "The seal draws energy from your body and soul, eventually devouring it if you give in."

'You better not die Ranma. I still have to kick your ass.' Sasuke thought before exiting.

Sarutobi checked Ranma's pulse while Kakashi and Jiraiya carried on drawing the required seals. Her pulse was rapid but she seemed to be pretty much unhurt so far aside from being unconscious. Again the curse was behaving strangely on her.

"Hokage we're nearly done." Kakashi said. "We need to put the seals on her shortly."

Sarutobi nodded as he rolled the girl onto her back. He unfastened her top and then rolled her back onto her front. He quickly but gently removed her red top. Sarutobi proceeded to fold the top up and placed it under her head using it as a pillow to give her a little comfort. Proceeding to brush the girl's long pink hair out of the way he exposed the cursed seal fully. Sarutobi frowned at the strange shape the cursed seal had taken. It had formed a tee shape covering the girls shoulders just below her neck and ran all the way down her spine.

Jiraiya and Kakashi must have finished drawing the outside patterns as the two men crouched down to join Sarutobi. Sarutobi nodded to them and all three began to draw more seals surrounding the cursed seal and leading from it to connect with the ones on the ground.

After a few minutes work they finished the last seals.

"Now I will seal it." Sarutobi stated and gathered his chakra for the last seal. "Evil sealing method!"

As Sarutobi thrust his open palm towards the cursed seal Ranma's aura flared and suddenly condensed over the spot he was aiming for. Sarutobi's eyes widened in disbelief as his hand was physically blocked by the aura.

"What?" Sarutobi gasped as the girl's aura had now become a solid barrier and prevented his sealing of the cursed seal. The Hokage grit his teeth and tried to force his way through the unexpected resistance. After a minute of struggling against the aura he was forced to admit defeat much to the apprehension of all three of them.

"This is bad…" Sarutobi stated softly.

x X x

Sakura had been practicing various techniques that Ranma had been showing her during the nights when what had seemed to be an earthquake had ripped through the mindscape. She had been thrown violently to the ground by the unexpected tremor and from her sitting position had seen Ranma fade into existence near her. Ranma was on her hands and knees panting.

"Ranma?"

Ranma glanced up from where she had appeared in the shared area of Sakura's and her own mind. Ranma's whole being ached. Not just physically but as if she had been run over by a spiritual version of a freight train.

"What happened?" Sakura asked after she had ran over to the downed pigtailed girl. A glance over the girl showed no physical damage.

"Don't…don't know…" Ranma panted in pain. "Something went wrong…"

Sakura steadied the pigtailed girl as she began to recover from whatever had done this to her. Another tremor rumbled around the area this time only shaking the mindscape slightly.

"What's causing this?" Sakura asked worriedly as she and Ranma glanced around for the source of the disturbance. Ranma spotted it first and pointed while leaning against Sakura.

"There! That damned cursed seal caused it." Ranma growled angrily still pointing at the top of the doorway. Sakura looked in the direction that Ranma was pointing to and gasped at the sight. The leech like black spot on the door had expanded to easily four times its original size. It pulsed and throbbed like a black heart as various tendrils of inky blackness had spread out from the centre and many others where swinging and thrashing about as they gained holds onto the surface of the door and walls near.

"I thought you contained it." Sakura stated to Ranma quietly watching in morbid fascination as the cursed seal pulsed, expanded at little more and a couple of extra tentacles grew out from its body.

"I did…" Ranma began before she started to swear her head off.

"What?" Sakura asked as Ranma climbed to her feet.

"I was going ta attempt to compress both parts of chakra ta see if it was possible. I pulled all of our energies inta our coils and forgot about containing the damned seal!" Ranma said slamming her right fist onto her left palm. "I'm an idiot!"

"So we just have to re-contain it then?" Sakura pointed out.

"Right." Ranma said confidently before she attempted to gather ki to repeat her earlier success at containing the cursed seal. Ranma tried to gather her ki but nothing came, not even a sense of ki and Ranma blanched. "Sakura…"

"What?"

Ranma turned to the other girl her face deathly serious. "I can't summon any ki."

"You can't summon your ki?" Sakura glanced at the cursed seal and back to Ranma. "What do we do then?"

"I'm not sure." Ranma puzzled. "Can you summon any chakra?"

"I'll try." Sakura said before she began to concentrate on summoning her chakra. Like Ranma she found nothing. "It's…it's gone."

"Dammit!" Ranma growled spinning to face the pulsing black mass. "It must have blocked our usage of ki. That thing was smart enough ta wait for an opening and its smart enough ta learn from its mistakes."

"What'll we do?" Sakura asked worried a she remembered what Kakashi-sensei had said about the seal. Would it try to devour them?

"I…" Ranma started to say but a noise like someone clearing their throat came from the cursed seal causing both girls to focus on it. As they watched the main body of the seal split open and a stream of black slime spewed forth and proceeded to dribble down the doorway to form a pool. The main body then sealed itself back up.

"Ugh! Gross." Sakura shuddered and Ranma had to agree. Their attention was drawn to the puddle on the ground as a hiss escaped from it. As they watched a glob of the blackness swelled up forming what might have been a misshapen head. A spine-like shape soon followed arching out behind the globule followed by more strands of the black stuff wrapping up to form a twisted version of a ribcage. What appeared to be long clawed fingers pulled themselves upwards from the puddle either side of the body and were joined in the other direction by long spindly arms that erupted out from the forming body.

"W…what is it?" Sakura gulped watching as the disgusting formation swung its lumpy wet featureless skull side to side like a snake hunting prey.

"I don't know." Ranma answered automatically while watching the last of the puddle flow upwards to join the mockery of a human torso that balanced itself on two far too thin arms.

At the sound of Ranma's voice the thing went still before it swung its head to face the two girls. Despite having no discernable features Ranma was certain it was watching them with malicious intent. A grin appeared across the lower part of the face which soon spilt open into a monstrous maw. Hundreds of needle-sharp teeth were revealed as spittle dripped from the thing's chin.

Ranma automatically placed herself between Sakura and it as the thing hissed again before slowly it began approaching them.

"Sakura, when I say run you move." Ranma told Sakura as they backed off slowly from the approaching monster. The creature paused a second before springing into motion. Despite its seeming clumsy jerky movements the thing was fast and Ranma had to push Sakura out of the thing's way before she narrowly avoided it herself.

The creature passed by them before skidding to a halt and turning itself around. With a hiss it glanced between the two girls and then with a high-pitched shriek it chose to go after Sakura. It had decided which was the easier prey and Sakura screamed as the thing bore down on her.

"No you don't ugly!" Ranma roared as she threw three summoned kunai into the creature's spine halting it's progress. The thing paused at the sensation of the items embedded in it's back before angrily roaring at Ranma. Ranma panicked as the thing charged her faster than the last time and she barely managed to block the backhand the thing sent her way.

Ranma grunted from the power of the blow and rolled backwards with the impact away from the thing, coming to rest in a kneeling position her arms aching from the blow. Before Ranma could even react the thing was almost upon her and a swipe from it's clawed hand caught the pigtailed girl across her upper arm drawing a yelp for her in surprise and pain. The cut on her arm burned like acid would but she had no time to inspect the damage as the thing's other arm swung around to hit her once more. Ranma was knocked to the ground and the thing took this advantage to rake it's claws down her back. Ranma hissed in pain but did her best to ignore it while rolling herself over and with as much power as she could lashed a kick into the creature's chin as it attempted to bite her.

Ranma took some satisfaction in the fact the creature seemed to feel pain as it shrieked while rearing back one arm holding its chin and the other supporting it's body, but her victory was short lived as it slammed both hands into the ground by her head and leaned over her. The thing brought it's gaping maw within inches of Ranma's nose and she had to force herself not to gag from the stench of the thing's putrid breath.

The creature slowly opened its mouth wide with a long drawn out hiss. Small dots of black drool dripped on Ranma's chest and each one burning like acid.

With a roar Sakura landed on the creature's back and began to hack and slash at the thing's exposed neck with a kunai. The creature roared in agony and tried to grab the girl off but forgot it only had two arms and loosing its balance rolled over. Sakura was thrown off and with a twist in midair landed into a crouch her kunai poised in an attacking position as the thing slowly attempted to stand back up, it's head was hanging loosely. With a quick flick of her wrist Sakura sent her kunai straight into the creature's forehead. With a last growl the thing lost cohesion and slowly melted into a puddle before the puddle also shrank away to nothing.

Ranma sat herself up slowly and stared. "Wow! Nice one Sakura."

x X x

"I've never seen an aura do this before." Sarutobi stated in awe as he examined the unconscious girl's aura. So far he had made three attempts at sealing the cursed seal, each had met with the same resistance as the girls aura's had become solid around the spot he had aimed for.

"I have." Kakashi stated quietly. "Twelve years ago."

Jiraiya and Sarutobi glanced at each other knowing exactly what Kakashi meant.

"The nine-tails." Sarutobi breathed. As he had not been directly involved in the counterattack against the Kyuubi, he had only heard the tales of the demon's abilities from the surviving ninja who had confronted the nine-tailed beast. How it's aura was like a living being able to move independently from the demon itself.

"Then that would mean that this Ranma is a Bijuu herself." Jiraiya stated pondering if that could be true.

"No." Sarutobi said shaking his head. "Ranma is too human to be one of the tailed-beasts."

"I agree." Kakashi said. "Even though she did manage to trick me once into believing that, I don't think she is a demon anymore than Naruto."

A silence fell over the room as the three men pondered this dilemma. The short silence was broken by Jiraiya. "It still begs the question of how is she capable of this. I've not seen any human with the ability for form a solid aura before."

x X x

Ranma climbed to her feet once more and winched as the scratches on her back reminded her just how close that thing had come to badly hurting her.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked worriedly as she ran over to Ranma and began to examine the pigtailed girl's wounds. Strangely the scratches seemed to be mostly healed already. "You've almost healed right up?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked before checking her arm. The scratch on her arm had vanished. "Well, I'm gonna guess we heal very fast cause this ain't real."

As the girls were examining Ranma's wounds another batch of disgusting noises came from the cursed seal.

"Not again." Ranma growled as they turned quickly to face the cursed seal once again. Ranma's face showed her concern as she saw the seal had spread a lot further in the time they had taken to fight off the creature.

"It's got bigger." Sakura whispered as the cursed seal spewed forth three more black puddles. As before the puddles began forming monstrously deformed shapes.

"Damn. Three of them freaks this time." Ranma spat before concentrating. A second later a beautiful katana appeared in the girl's hands. "Got no ki and they're stronger than us. We're gonna need weapons." Ranma said as she tested the blade's balance. "Can you use a sword?"

"We were taught the basics of most weapons in school." Sakura told Ranma as she copied the pigtailed girl's summon of a katana.

"Good." Ranma stated as the three things seemed to have finished forming and were now turning their attention towards the two girls. "Watch each others back and if you get a chance try and take them things heads off."

Sakura nodded grimly at Ranma as the two prepared for the creatures' attacks. The two girls took almost identical stances, sword held above their heads pointing at the black misshapen monsters that were approaching towards them with jerky movements.

With a chorus of shrieks all three of the things charged the two girls. Ranma swung the katana downwards in a graceful arc as the first thing came into range slicing the creature diagonally in half. Sakura stepped past the collapsing slimy remains of the first creature and repeated the same attack on the second one. It to split into two parts and fell apart in the same fashion as the first. Sakura went into a spin as she continued with her built up momentum. The third creature roared as it raised one of it's clawed hands to slice Sakura's now exposed back. However it never got chance as Ranma's katana slid cleanly through the thing's ribcage, popping out it's back and stopped the thing in it's tracks. As it examined the blade in what might be described as surprise Sakura finished her spin and sliced the thing's misshapen head clean off.

As the third creature fell apart around Ranma's katana the girl blinked in surprise. Ranma noted the eerie synchronisation the two of them had suddenly developed. More strangely Ranma noted Sakura was using the exact same sword style she had and Ranma decided she would have to figure this puzzle out with Sakura later.

"Neat." Ranma stated as the two girls glanced at each other.

"That was easy enough." Sakura stated before the ground shook once again shaking both girls.

"You hadta say it…" Ranma groaned and turned her attention back to the cursed seal. "Damn it's still spreading!"

Ranma was right as they watched the blackness was now expanding again covering most of the door and part of the walls. Some of it had even reached all the way to the roof.

"Ranma! We have to stop it before it gets any bigger!" Sakura stated in worry.

"Yeah I know." Ranma said absently studying the cursed seal for a vector of attack. "Go for the tentacles first, we gotta prevent it getting any further."

As Ranma and Sakura ran towards the cursed seal some of the nearest tentacles disconnected from the main body to splash onto the ground and began forming more of the things.

"Back off!" Ranma shouted at Sakura as they halted their charge. "It's forming more of them."

"But we need…"

"No!" Ranma interrupted Sakura. "Did you see? To form those things it needs to sacrifice some of its body."

Sakura looked at Ranma uncertainly.

"We can prevent it getting too big by forcing it ta make more of those things. They die easy enough right." Ranma explained with a grin. "Divide and conqueror it."

Sakura glanced at the forming horde then back to Ranma. "Will it work?"

"Yeah, we'll keep pushing forward and forcing it ta keep making those things." Ranma smirked while getting ready for the oncoming onslaught. "Same as last time Sakura."

Sakura nodded getting ready herself as the first of the things began to charge them. As before the two girls automatically began attacking in unison. Ranma would take one out and Sakura would follow up by slicing another that got close. They worked in perfect harmony, systematically destroying the oncoming creatures like a pair of pink-haired blenders and slowly pressed forward. As Ranma had expected each time they took down a chunk of the group the cursed seal would spit out more and/or sacrifice some of its tentacles. With each destroyed thing the cursed seal was forced to shrink.

"It's working!" Sakura grinned as she felt exhilarated by the battle they were engaged in. Ranma grinned back as she ignored the one getting close and took out a different one. She knew Sakura would get that one and the other girl proved her right as she sliced the thing's head off.

Just as they were getting into the swing of things the remaining creatures all suddenly backed away from the two girls leaving both Ranma and Sakura puzzled by this change in behaviour.

"Ranma? What are they doing?" Sakura asked watching the hissing creatures as they backed away from the two sword wielding girls. The creatures began gathering into two groups of roughly the same amount.

One of the creatures suddenly jumped onto the back of another and they began to merge together forming a more solid form. Soon all the other ones had began joining others in their respective groups.

Ranma frowned as the two groups of creatures became two vaguely black humanoid shapes. The shapes began to take on a more definite form and as they watched solidified into a proper form.

Sakura gasped as one of the black masses became a sinister looking copy of Sasuke. The other took the shape of a pigtailed boy a few years older than themselves. Ranma's frown deepened as she felt she should know who that person the cursed seal had chosen to emulate was.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked shocked enough to almost drop her katana.

"That's not Sasuke." Ranma stated. "It's just that cursed seal trying to get an advantage. It probably thinks ya'll not be able to fight back if it looks like him."

"Well…ain't you the smartest little girl around." The pigtailed boy stated to their shock. "What? Didn't think I could talk eh?"

Ranma and Sakura both stared at the pigtailed boy in amazement.

"Looks like you've broken them." Sasuke-thing said in amusement to his partner.

"Wow, he even sounds as smug as Sasuke." Ranma stated before focusing on the pigtailed boy. "So…who the heck are ya supposed ta be?"

"You don't know?" the pigtailed boy smirked. "Heh. You're infa a shock when ya figure it out. Well shall we get this over with girly?"

Ranma narrowed her eyes dangerously as the boy's mocking tone. "You want a fight eh? You got one!" Ranma said spring forward at the boy with her katana raised.

"Moko Takabisha!" the pigtailed boy announced to Ranma's surprise as the boy produced her own move. Ranma was unable to dodge in time and took the ki blast full on sending her flying backwards and dropping her katana. Ranma landed awkwardly with the breath knocked out of her and glanced up as the boy calmly picked up the fallen weapon.

"You…you can use ki." Ranma gasped in between breath's as the boy examined the blade.

"Correction girly. I can use your ki." The pigtailed boy mocked as he swung the katana a couple of times before slamming it into the ground and snapped the blade off easily. "Weapons are a weakness." The boy smirked before tossing the hilt over his shoulder.

Ranma growled before the boy blurred and she found his fist had landed in her gut. Ranma was forced to double over as the boy removed his fist and laughed at her. "Without your ki you're nothing but a weak little girl."

"Ranma!" Sakura shouted and tried to run over to help the pigtailed girl but the Sasuke-thing charged her with a fast kick. Sakura was forced to dodge away.

"You forgot about me moron." Sasuke-thing landed and turned to face her grinning evilly while Sakura stared at him uncertainly.

x X x

Ranma grit her teeth and glared up at the pigtailed boy in anger. 'Damn, he's got my ki and my moves! How do I beat him?'

"I like that face. I think I'll use it a lot once I take you over." The boy stated before he went to grab Ranma's head. Ranma though had expected something and she swiped the boy's legs out from under him as he leaned forward off balanced.

The boy easily flipped in the air and landed in a one handed handstand before he flipped away to land facing Ranma. With a roar Ranma charged him and they began to throw and block punches rapidly. The pigtailed boy was smirking the entire time.

"Is this the best you can do?" he mocked Ranma before his fists blurred into the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Ranma was pounded by the multiple super fast punches only able to block barely a quarter of them. Ranma found her vision blurring from the jarring impacts and before she could collapse the boy grabbed her by the pigtail and lifted her off the ground bringing her face to face with him painfully. Hissing in pain Ranma glared at him through teary eyes defiantly.

"You know what? I think I'm going ta enjoy your body." The boy mocked and Ranma felt ill at the images that phrase conjured in her head.

"Bastard!" Ranma roared and summoned a rather large mallet much to the surprise of the pigtailed boy before she brained the cocky bastard. Ranma took great satisfaction at the sight of the boy's face crumpling and returning to a black ooze as he collapsed onto the ground.

Ranma raised the mallet again as the boy's face started to slowly reform. As she was about to finish the job another quake shook the area and the sound of splintering wood echoed across the mindscape.

"Wha?" Ranma turned to the large door where the cursed seal was forcing the door to crack. A sudden torrent of memories slammed into Ranma's head and she was staggered. Images of people and places flashed past too quick to fully make out.

As this was happening the pigtailed boy had recovered his face and was grinning evilly. The boy dissolved back into a black puddle before spreading out and surrounding Ranma. Ranma managed to gather enough of her wits together to spin around as the ooze turned into four walls which rapidly grew taller than herself. Ranma's eyes widened in fear as the walls soon started to form a roof which would seal her in.

Ranma leapt as fast as she could straight up but was too slow as the roof sealed over her sending the area into pitch blackness.

"Bastard!" Ranma roared in anger as she landed. Spinning around she found she could see nothing in this darkness. "Let me out!"

As Ranma was searching for any sign of attack something brushed past her legs. She automatically kicked out at the object and was rewarded with an impact. Whatever it was hissed and yowled.

Ranma froze as memories returned to her. "Oh…god…n…nooo…" Sealed in a pitch black pit? With ca…things? Ranma slowly turned around as more hissing sounded at her back. The sight that greeted her was a pair of yellow slitted eyes floating in the dark.

"No not this." Ranma whispered in fear as another pair of eyes appeared followed by more and more of them. Ranma backed away from that wall but the hissing began behind and to the sides of her as well. Ranma began to have trouble breathing as she started to hyperventilate in fear. She was back in that damned pit with those monsters. Ranma screamed as the eyes moved in.

x X x

Sakura shakily held the katana in front of herself as she faced the Sasuke-thing.

"What's the matter Sakura? Aren't you gonna attack me?" Sasuke-thing asked mockingly.

"Get out of the way Sasuke." Sakura said forgetting Ranma's earlier words.

"Make me you annoying girl." Sasuke-thing said stepping forward making Sakura take a step back. "I see you're still useless."

"I don't want to fight you Sasuke." Sakura told the copy who laughed at her.

"Too bad. You annoyed me too much with your constant nagging and yapping on all the time. This is payback." Sasuke-thing spoke before charging Sakura who panicked.

Sasuke-thing grabbed hold of her wrist and with a quick twist made her drop the katana. Before she could recover from the painful hold he slammed his fist into her right cheek sending Sakura stumbling away stars floating in her eyes. Sasuke-thing then tripped her over casually and Sakura landed on her back.

"You really are useless." Sasuke-thing stated as he stepped on her with one foot. "I'm gonna enjoy killing you."

"Why Sasuke-kun? Why?" Sakura asked through her tears.

"Because you're useless. At least the other you Ranma is a decent fighter. I'll possess her and kill off you. Then I'll make her kill all your friends." Sasuke-thing stated as he drew a kunai from his leg-pouch. "Bye."

Sakura clenched her eyes shut as the kunai came down. The blow never landed as Sakura heard her own voice shout out. "Die!"

"Wha?" Sasuke-thing managed to say before he was violently punched away from Sakura.

"HELL YEAH! Take that!" Inner-Sakura bellowed as Sakura blinked her eyes open in surprise. "You're not gonna let him talk to you like that?"

"What?" Sakura asked dumbly looking up at the tough-looking version of herself that had saved her.

"Shheeesh! Come on." Inner-Sakura held out her hand. "We need to kick this things butt right?"

Sakura blinked and took the offered hand and was pulled to her feet. Inner-Sakura smiled at her before fading away and Sakura felt a surge of confidence fill her. She was right. She was not going to let him talk to her like that.

Sasuke-thing growled as half of it's face was blackened and slowly reforming.

Sakura picked up her dropped katana and glared at him. "I'm going to beat you!" Sakura stated pointing the blade at him before charging the downed thing. As it was still stunned it had no chance of avoiding the blade as Sakura sliced it in half. As Sakura watched the two halves began to dissolve away in the black ooze.

"Hell yeah, I'm over you." Sakura growled at the disappearing puddle of blackness.

As she was turning to go help Ranma the mindscape shook from another tremor and she was sure she heard the sound of splintering wood. Sakura spotted Ranma in time to see the girl get sealed away as a square room made of blackness formed around Ranma.

"Ranma!"

x X x

Sarutobi and Jiraiya were now studying as many sealing scrolls and information on charka auras they could find, while Kakashi kept an eye on the cursed seal on Sakura's body. So far they had not found anything useful.

Kakashi was kneeling by Sakura's body. The girl just seemed to be asleep, if it was not for the flickering aura around her he would have assumed that. As he watched Sakura's face twisted in fear and the girl started to shake as the aura grew brighter.

"Hokage something's happening!" Kakashi informed while he went to place his hand on the girl's forehead in an attempt to calm her. Before he could reach Sakura he sensed a feeling of maliciousness came from the girl. This was his only warning as the aura lashed out at him. Kakashi barely managed to avoid the lashing aura with a roll. As Kakashi returned to his feet his eyes widened in surprise at the aura.

The aura was forming a shape above the girl and no longer was it the calm blue colour he remembered. Now the aura had darkened to a purple colour with floating areas of pure black. The black speckles would swirl around on their own as if they were a separate entity from the main aura.

"What is this?" Jiraiya growled as he ran over to join Kakashi. As they all watched the aura expanded to take on the form of a catlike monster which stood above the unconscious girl. The face of the cat was pointed and sharp with a vast amount of teeth and two swirling pools of blackness had became the eyes. The aura-beast seemed to smile hungrily at them as Sakura's body sat up like a puppet on strings would, her head rolled forward.

"Sakura! Ranma!" Kakashi shouted to the girl hoping to snap her out of it.

"Don't bother Kakashi." Sarutobi warned him. "She's unconscious. Whatever the cursed seal has done it's got control of her."

"What do we do?" Kakashi frowned as the girl was jerkily lifted to her feet by the aura.

"I fear the worst Kakashi. By all indications it seems we've lost them to the cursed seal." Sarutobi spoke with regret as Sakura's body was pulled into the centre of the aura where she floated helplessly powering the aura-beast.

With an ear-splitting roar the aura-beast charged them.

x X x

Temari, Kankuro and Gaara sat on one of the Konoha roofs. As much as Temari and Kankuro wanted to return home Gaara had insisted on staying. So far nether had been able to coax why out of the silent red-haired boy.

"Gaara can we leave now?" Temari asked and was promptly ignored.

"Give it a rest Temari." Kankuro sighed. "I think he's wanting to catch Sasuke alone before the match. If you know what I mean."

Temari grimaced. "We have a mission to complete and that would draw too much attention."

Gaara glanced at them from the corner of his eyes not moving his head. "Sasuke?"

Gaara's question took the other two by surprise. It was the first words he had said all day.

"Yeah Sasuke. You know…your opponent in the third part of the exam farce." Kankuro stated.

Gaara turned ever so slightly towards them. "Oh…him."

Kankuro and Temari shared a glance that said 'what the heck?' before Kankuro asked the question.

"What the hell do you mean oh him? You've been following him since the exams right?"

Gaara regarded them with a strange look before he suddenly whipped his head around to face the Hokage's tower. He had felt the aura once again and the voice inside had stirred. The horse had released the cat? No something else was using the horse and the horse was hurting. This may be his chance to remove the thing that the voice inside him feared.

"What is it?" Temari asked in worry as Gaara began to grin manically.

x X x

The instant Sakura saw the blackness surround Ranma she had rushed over to the sealed prison.

"Ranma!" Sakura shouted as she beat on the solid blackness. It would not give in the slightest. A burst of absolute terror passed over Sakura and she instantly knew it was Ranma's.

"Let her go!" Sakura slashed with her katana but the sword became stuck in the black wall and slowly the ooze began crawling down the blade. Sakura gritted her teeth and pulled on the katana but her efforts were wasted as the sword was sucked out of her hands.

Sakura was forced to leap away as multiple clawed hands shot out of the wall and attempted to skewer her. The moment Sakura landed the ground shook violently throwing her off her feet. She looked up to find the cursed seal was now spreading rapidly consuming anything that Ranma or she had created in the mindscape. Soon Sakura was surrounded by the blackness as it closed in on her.

x X x

Naruto was pacing restlessly as they waited for any word from the Hokage on Ranma.

"Will you just sit still idiot." Sasuke groaned at the blond boy.

"But I'm worried! What if the thing hurts Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted in worry.

Gai placed a hand on the worried boy's shoulder calming him. "Don't worry Naruto! She has two of the most knowledgeable people on seals in the world looking after her. She'll be fine."

At that instant a wave of dark power rolled through the building causing all of them to look up towards the room.

"That was…" Sasuke whispered at the feeling of maliciousness coming from above them. Gai had narrowed his eyes as he contemplated the worst case scenario. From that burst of power it was not looking good.

Naruto blinked. He was standing in front of the massive bars once again. The two huge red eyes started down at him in amusement.

"Welcome back brat." The voice of Kyuubi rumbled.

"What?" Naruto stated looking around and then back at the fox demon in shock. "What's going on?"

The Kyuubi laughed a deep barking laugh. "It seems the cursed seal has captured poor little Ranma."

"No!" Naruto shouted. "Let me go! I'll save her!"

"Silence!" Kyuubi roared startling Naruto. The giant fox leaned closer to the bars and examined his jailer. "You have no idea of how to save him…but I do. Let me out and I'll save him."

For once Naruto did not instantly jump at the offer, something made him pause. He narrowed his eyes as he regarded the fox demon.

"Why would you want to save Ranma?" Naruto frowned. "This is just a trick so you can get out isn't it?"

The Kyuubi chuckled amused. "Well. Well. It seems you are not a stupid as I've been led to believe."

"Shut it damned fox! Tell me how to save Ranma and Sakura!" Naruto demanded.

"Even if I did you do not process the control to do such a…technique." Kyuubi grinned unpleasantly. "The only way to save them is too let me out."

Naruto glared at the fox. "If I did you'd just destroy the village wouldn't you!"

"Of course!" Kyuubi snorted and watched interestedly as Naruto began thinking. "If you don't hurry they'll be destroyed."

"Can't you do it from in here?" Naruto asked in desperation.

"This is a prison to prevent me doing such things you foolish brat." Kyuubi sighed before glaring at the boy. "I'll make a deal with you boy. Let me direct your body and I'll save them."

"Why should I trust you?" Naruto stared up at the fox wondering why it was wanting to save Ranma.

"Despite what you humans think if a kitsune makes a promise we will keep it. I promise to save them." Kyuubi growled.

Naruto pondered this and decided to take a chance. "If I let you use me will you go back after you've saved them?"

Kyuubi laughed surprising Naruto once again. "You've gotten too smart brat. Very well, I promise to return to this prison after saving them with your body. A moment's freedom and the chance to have the Wild Horse in my debt will be worth making this deal."

As the Kyuubi spoke those words red charka began leaking out from the bars and floated over to lightly caress Naruto. Then without warning the charka wrapped itself tightly around the boy who yelped in shock.

Back in the real world Gai felt Naruto tense under his arm before the boy started to shake.

"Naruto?" Gai asked worriedly before a powerful aura burst around Naruto causing Gai to pull his hand away in shock.

Sasuke had jumped up as Naruto's powerful aura manifested itself, the boy's eyes changed into the slitted red ones Sasuke had seen once before in the forest of death. The whisker marks on his cheek became more pronounced and his nails on his fingers hardened into claws. The boy's stance changed completely and Sasuke was left wondering what the hell was going on today.

"Naruto?" Sasuke approached slowly and Naruto turned to face him.

"Sorry Uchiha I don't have time to play." Naruto growled with strange dual-voice which sent shivers down Sasuke's spine. Sasuke grew angry at Naruto's tone and ignored all the warning signs to grab the boy by his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sasuke growled.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke through the corner of his red eyes and snarled revealing extended canines. Sasuke had no other warning as Naruto spun around so fast Sasuke could not follow him and was backhanded across his face sending Sasuke tumbling away and only by Gai catching the boy did he avoid smashing into the far wall. By the time they both looked up Naruto was long gone.

x X x

Sarutobi had removed his robes and stood facing the monstrous cat aura-beast in his fighting gear alongside Jiraiya and Kakashi. So far they had avoided serious injury but the monster was quickly becoming far more proficient at attacking them. At first it had been clumsy and easy to avoid but as time went by it was growing more use to it's abilities.

Kakashi had found out the hard way that ranged attacks were useless as the aura effortlessly blocked any throw weapons and keeping distance was not so easy when the creature could slice through stone with invisible claws from a distance.

"We're going to need more shinobi!" Kakashi stated narrowly avoiding another swipe which left gouges in the stone floor.

"Jiraiya and I shall contain it. Kakashi gather as many Jounin and chunin as possible and return quickly." Sarutobi ordered.

As Kakashi nodded the door to the room was shattered in a storm of wood as Naruto burst into the room to land on all fours. The entire room's focus went to the growling boy who spotted the cat shaped aura-beast and grinned ferally before standing up normally.

"Must I always save your life Saotome?" Kyuubi-Naruto mocked the unconscious girl in the aura-beast's stomach.

**Chapter 10 – The End of The Beginning**

A stunned silence fell over the room at the sight of Naruto standing defiantly facing the cat-shaped aura, his own dark orange almost red aura glowing powerfully around the boy. A terrifyingly familiar aura which was still the nightmare of many Konoha residents even twelve years later.

Sarutobi felt an icy chill settle in the pit of his stomach as he prayed it was only Naruto using the demon fox's chakra and not the fox himself. Then Naruto had spoken in an eerie dual-voice, his own and another deeper and far more malevolent one mixed together and the chill solidified in to a solid lump of ice sitting deep within him.

'The Kyuubi has broken the seal? No…if it had I doubt it would be using Naruto's form. More likely Kyuubi would have destroyed the boy just because. So that means the seal is still holding…but Naruto must have been possessed by the fox.' Sarutobi quickly started to go over his options. There were now two powerful creatures facing off against each other, one was a Bijuu and the other if not a Bijuu was at least very similar. If he let the two battle as they apparently were going to, it could well mean the village could be destroyed and who knew however many innocent lives would be taken in the struggle.

Out of the two Sarutobi thought they had a higher chance of restraining the cat aura-beast than the Kyuubi and with his mind made up he hoped Naruto had enough control to return to then.

"Naruto!" Sarutobi shouted drawing the boy's attention to him. "Stop what you're doing! Get out of here we can handle it."

Kyuubi-Naruto turned his stare towards Sarutobi, his red slitted eyes bore into the old man before he spoke.

"Foolish old man." Kyuubi-Naruto growled before turning his attention back to the cat aura-beast. "You have no idea what you are facing. I will warn you once. Don't get in my way."

Sarutobi heard Kakashi swear and out of the corner of his eye he saw Jiraiya shake his head. It seemed they both had come to the same conclusion that he had. This was the Kyuubi.

"Hokage…" Kakashi spoke. "What do we do?"

Sarutobi frowned at the situation while the cat aura-beast and Kyuubi-Naruto stared at each other both tensed ready to attack. It was for the moment a standoff. Jiraiya answered Kakashi. "We need to bring Naruto back before this gets any worse."

"Agreed." Sarutobi agreed. "I pray Naruto is strong enough to come back to us." The Hokage then addressed Kyuubi-Naruto. "Naruto! You have to resist the fox. If you let this continue it will only end in destruction!"

Kyuubi-Naruto barked a loud humourless laugh. "Fools! Naruto agreed to releasing me!"

Sarutobi felt like he had been slapped in the face with ice cold water at Kyuubi-Naruto's words. Naruto had willingly released the demon fox? He was brought back from his stunned shock by Kyuubi-Naruto's next words.

"We made a deal, I would save the wild horse and the girl." Kyuubi-Naruto stated specifically leaving off the part about returning to his prison afterwards. After all he was enjoying the fear on the human's faces. "And this is what I will do…afterwards however…" Kyuubi-Naruto trailed off chuckling evilly.

Sarutobi swore under his breath. The demon fox had obviously played on Naruto's desire to help his friends to gain its freedom. If he had known the fox had that much leeway to work around the seal he would have had Naruto trained to resist such tactics.

"You're going to do that?" Jiraiya asked surprised that the demon fox would honour its promise.

"A deal is a deal human." Kyuubi-Naruto stated as he used some chakra to dare the cat aura-beast to attack. "And besides…Ranma and I have unfinished business."

The three men all had the same thought. 'Unfinished business?'

Sasuke unfortunately chose that moment to arrive on the scene and skidded to a halt at the sight before him. Naruto was standing facing off against a huge semitransparent cat thing while Sakura floated lifelessly in the belly of the beast. Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Kakashi were stood off to one side looking slightly ruffled but more disturbed than hurt.

"What the hell is that?" Sasuke shouted drawing all their attention to him. Kyuubi-Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the unwelcome disturbance and that was the moment the cat aura-beast had been waiting for. With a piercing yowl the aura-beast shot forward lightening quick and swiped one of its paws at Kyuubi-Naruto who barely got his defences up in time. The demon-possessed boy grunted as he was thrown arms crossed over his chest, backwards from the impact to land on all fours. Kyuubi-Naruto slowly skidded to a halt his claws leaving scratches in the floor as he came to rest nearby Sasuke.

"Stupid human!" Kyuubi-Naruto growled angrily as his aura grew brighter and formed a fox like shape around him, complete with tail and long ears.

"Wha?" Sasuke was stunned at the sight of Kyuubi-Naruto's aura and the feeling of an immensely nasty presence emanating from the boy. While Sasuke stood gaping at Naruto the possessed boy used his chakra tail to viciously swing at the young Uchina. Sasuke was too close to avoid the blow and was sent smashing into the wall outside the room with enough force to render him unconscious.

Kyuubi-Naruto heard the one-eyed ninja shout out Sasuke's name but ignored them. His target was the cursed seal controlled cat aura-beast. With a burst of inhuman speed Kyuubi-Naruto blasted forward running on all fours in a way that a human body was not meant to move. The aura-beast shrieked as it swung its claws at the approaching super fast demon fox possessed boy.

The floor was torn up by the invisible claws of the aura-beast while Kyuubi-Naruto bounded easily to one side dodging the attack completely before leaping up and over the cat aura-beast's head. The boy twisted in the air to come down upon the back of the aura-beast's neck claws first. As he landed on the cat shaped monster Kyuubi-Naruto sank his claws as deep as he could into the living chakra aura and also bit down hard onto the back of the aura-beast's neck.

The aura-beast yowled in surprise before it began swinging its head from side to side rapidly in an attempt to shake the boy off. Kyuubi-Naruto would have laughed at the thing's pathetic attempt to remove him, if he had not had a mouthful of the aura-beast.

The cat shaped aura-beast soon came to realise this was not enough to rid itself of the fox boy and began to slam itself against the walls of the room causing cracks to appear in the walls with each successive hit. Kyuubi-Naruto held on easily enough even through all the jarring impacts.

While the cat aura was thrashing around the room the other occupants had made a beeline out of there and gathered by the fallen Sasuke. Kakashi was gently draping the boy over his back so he could carry him out of there.

"Kakashi get Sasuke to safety and return as soon as possible." Sarutobi ordered the copy-ninja who nodded and took off in a run.

"Any ideas?" Jiraiya asked Sarutobi as the two of them watched the battle continuing inside the room. The cat aura-beast was at the moment rolling around on its back in a new attempt at losing Kyuubi-Naruto all the while hissing and yowling.

"Very few and all of them bad." Sarutobi replied as the sound of running feet approached from down the corridor. A squad of ANBU came hurtling round the corner and pulled to a halt at the sight of the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama we felt the aura and heard the noise, what's the situation?" The squad leader asked as he and his squad took in the sight of the occurring battle.

"We have a Bijuu like cat monster loose." Sarutobi stated studying the fight. The room was now looking very much worse for wear, great cracks and gouges lined the walls and floor. "If that is not bad enough it gets worse…"

"Sir?" the squad leader asked nervously as the cat slammed itself particularly hard shaking the room and hallway and causing plaster to shake loose and fall from the ceiling from the impact.

"The Kyuubi may have taken over Naruto completely." Sarutobi informed the squad a couple of whom took a step back in surprise. "It is busy attacking the cat monster for now, but this room won't contain them for long and I have the feeling that the battle will soon escalate."

"Your orders?" the squad leader asked his voice only slightly betraying his anxiousness.

"Inform all ANBU's and any available shinobi nearby to converge on this location. We will need to evacuate any citizens nearby. Once the civilians are safely out of the way we will attempt to contain the beasts. If we can't…then we take them down by any means necessary. Jiraiya and I will stay and attempt to keep them busy. Now go!"

"Sir!" the ANBU squad announced as one before vanishing in any available direction.

"Well…I guess we're going to have the fight of a lifetime on our hands." Jiraiya stated as the two men prepared themselves to enter the fray. It was that moment the cat aura-beast decided to change tactics and charged straight at them.

Jiraiya and Sarutobi were forced to dive out of the way as the aura-beast barrelled past them bounced off the wall, leaving behind an impression before tearing down the corridor, Kyuubi-Naruto still latched onto the beast's neck. Jiraiya and Sarutobi gave chase.

Kyuubi-Naruto clung onto the aura-beast easily as they approached the end of the corridor and the window that sat in the wall.

'Perfect. It's going to take us outside.' Kyuubi thought pleased with this turn of events. 'Once outside we can cause some damage.'

'Hey! That's not part of the deal!' Naruto thought-shouted at the demon fox that was controlling his body. Strangely Naruto had found he was totally aware of what was going on. He could see and feel everything that happened to him except he was not able to control his body.

'Then you should have made that part of the deal brat.' Kyuubi laughed back before refocusing his attention on the cat aura-beast. As Kyuubi predicted the aura-beast leapt at the window. They burst out into the sunshine six floors up and then gravity went to work on them dragging them downwards.

As they descended earthwards the cat aura-beast attempted to twist around so that Kyuubi-Naruto would be underneath itself.

'No you don't.' Kyuubi thought and he pushed himself away from the aura-beast ripping a chunk of purple and black chakra from its neck and disrupting the monster's attempt at flattening him.

Kyuubi-Naruto proceeded to adjust himself in midair and landed on all fours on a nearby roof where he spat out the remains of the chakra chunk he had in his mouth and watched it evaporate into thin air. He grinned in amusement as the cat aura-beast twisted itself around so that it would land on its feet.

Kyuubi knew exactly how he was going to take the other beast down. He could just overpower the thing and end this quickly as despite all its size and seeming power the aura-beast was pretty low on the scales compared to the real tailed-beasts barely above a strong human. Its advantage was Ranma's aura control was so good it would not leak power away. It could probably hold that form for years without wasting much energy. The only way to actually kill it would be to take out the girl who was unconsciously powering the aura. However that would be hard as the aura was capable of becoming completely solid preventing weapons and most chakra attacks from landing. Kyuubi however could easily cut or bite off bits of the chakra aura as he was capable of doing exactly the same tricks as the aura-beast.

Kyuubi had no plans on ending this fight quickly as he fully intended to enjoy his few moments of freedom. A small amount of destruction in this village while he slowly whittled the aura-beast down would have to tide him over for now. Once he had cut it down to size he would then go about waking Ranma back up. He looked forward to Ranma's reaction to owning him a favour.

'It's trying to run away!' Naruto thought-shouted at Kyuubi as they observed the cat shaped aura barrelling down the narrow street it had landed in. A few shrieks of terror were shouted out as the aura-beast knocked people out of its way.

'As I expected. Even empowered with this so called cursed seal the accident that is neko-ken is still only able to act on instinct. And its instincts tell it to fear me.' Kyuubi-Naruto grinned in amusement before bursting into a full on four-legged sprint across the rooftops making sure his chakra aura shattered tiles as he passed.

It was an interesting sight to see to say the least. A large cat-shaped purple with swirling black spots aura containing an unconscious half-dressed pink-haired girl whose body was covered in seals barrelling down a narrow street, closely followed by a blond haired boy wearing a bright orange jumpsuit glowing with a reddish fox-shaped aura who was using the rooftops above the cat aura-beast to keep up with it. Behind him were the Hokage and Jiraiya as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop trying to keep up with the fast moving pair of possessed kids.

Looking ahead Kyuubi-Naruto saw they were going to join a main street at the tee junction. He could see the street was busy and grinned. 'Perfect.'

Puling slightly ahead the demon fox possessed boy tensed himself. Just as the cat aura-beast passed through the junction Kyuubi-Naruto leapt sideways off the rooftop like a fox-shaped rocket and smashed into the cat aura-beast's side. The sudden impact sent the two skidding and tumbling up the street knocking a couple of unfortunate bystanders flying.

The two combatants slid to a halt in cloud of dust, growling and facing each other as screams of panic rose in the air and people with any sense began running. The cat aura-beast slashed at Kyuubi-Naruto once more. Invisible claws tore through the air shredding the ground as they passed. Kyuubi-Naruto dodged the attack easily by diving to the side as the air rippled from the pressure created from the attack. Kyuubi chuckled in amusement as an unfortunate trinket seller and his stall were shredded by the cat aura-beast's attack.

'What the hell are you doing?' Naruto thought-shouted at the demon fox. 'You let that guy get killed!'

'And it was most amusing brat. Now shut up and let me concentrate." Kyuubi stated back at Naruto as he made them avoid another swipe of the invisible claws. With a burst of speed Kyuubi-Naruto shot forward and sliced a small piece of the cat aura-beast's shoulder off. The severed piece of aura evaporated away into the air harmlessly.

The cat aura-beast roared in anger at being damaged even as the wound sealed over and reformed. As the cat aura-beast turned around to face the direction it thought Kyuubi-Naruto had gone in the demon possessed boy shot back past again taking another chunk of the cat with him.

The aura-beast slashed angrily at Kyuubi-Naruto but once again missed due to the extreme speed the boy was moving with. Kyuubi was pleased with himself as the attack damaged a nearby building shattering windows and gouging out chunks of the wall.

So caught up in dodging the cat aura-beast's attacks Kyuubi-Naruto was almost hit as a volley of kunai and shuriken stabbed into the ground where he had been moments ago. With an angry growl he looked up to see a large group of Konoha shinobi positioned on a nearby rooftop. The Hokage and Jiraiya were up there too and were shouting orders at the shinobi.

'Damn them for interrupting my fun!' Kyuubi growled and with a thought his aura flared stronger. He waved Naruto's arm at the gathered shinobi and their red-aura stretched out forming a giant arm and clawed hand. The shinobi were forced to evacuate the rooftop as Kyuubi's aura smashed down shattering the building in a massive cloud of dust.

Satisfied the shinobi would stay back for a little while to replan their tactics Kyuubi drew back the aura created appendage. As he restored the former shape of their aura the cat aura-beast capitalised on the distraction to dive at them.

Kyuubi realised his mistake of ignoring the aura-beast and at the last second managed to leap out of the way. Even though they avoided serious damage the cat aura-beast's attack still caught them cutting into the possessed boy's chest. Kyuubi-Naruto grunted in pain as the hastily erected charka aura shield absorbed most of the damage leaving only four deep scratches across their chest instead of tearing them in two.

'Those stupid monkeys nearly got us killed!' Kyuubi growled internally as he healed Naruto's body with his chakra even as they hit the ground and went into a backwards skid. Using one hand to dig into the ground Kyuubi-Naruto halted the backwards momentum and glared at the cat aura-beast.

'Why are they attacking us?' Naruto asked the fox demon that was controlling his body in shock.

'Because the fools are more afraid of me getting loose than the God Slayer.' Kyuubi answered his container. 'If only they knew what he was the cause of.'

'What do you mean cause of?' Naruto asked the fox demon curious of the answer.

'Let's just say I wouldn't be here if not because of Ranma.' Kyuubi answered the boy cryptically even as he took in the approaching auras. More shinobi were headed in their direction and the ones close by were now regrouping. Kyuubi growled as the number of shinobi would cause them problems as he could barely use one tail's worth of power in his container's current level. At Naruto's current condition even two tails may be too much for the boy's body to withstand and this many shinobi would require at least four tails worth of power. He would not be able to avoid taking damage, perhaps fatal _and_ break the cursed seal's hold over Ranma at the same time.

Coming to the obvious conclusion Kyuubi knew his short time of freedom was going to have to be cut short if he was to honour his promise.

'Damn it. Brat!' Kyuubi barked at Naruto internally. 'In a few seconds I'm going to pass control back to you while I save the girl and Ranma.'

'Yes! I'll kick its butt!' Naruto cheered.

'Shut up and listen brat!' Kyuubi shouted back silencing Naruto. 'We don't have much time to do this. I need you to hold on to the cat once I get hold of and enter the girl. If we lose physical contact it's over. Whatever happens don't let go.'

Kyuubi did not give Naruto any time to reply as he charged at the cat aura-beast intent on punching right through it to reach the girl inside. The cat aura-beast instinctively acted by swiping its claws at the approaching boy. Instead of dodging Kyuubi-Naruto increased his speed to pass under the attack sacrificing the part of his aura that had formed long floppy ears. Dashing under the cat aura-beast Kyuubi-Naruto jumped and turned in midair to latch onto to cat aura-beast's belly. He then proceeded to climb up and around the cat to arrive on the aura-beast's back even as the cat thrashed about trying its best to dislodge them.

Once they were positioned on the cat aura-beast's back Kyuubi-Naruto drew one arm back, clawed fingers held rigid to form a spear and thrust his arm deep into the cat. The cat aura-beast yowled in shock as Kyuubi's aura easily allowed them to pierced deep into the aura-beast's body. Kyuubi-Naruto's arm halted buried up to their elbow before the aura hand kept on going further into the cat until the hand formed from red chakra reached and grasped Sakura by the throat.

'Now brat!' was all the warning Naruto got before he found himself clinging onto a wildly bucking and yowling cat aura-beast.

x X x

Sakura threw another kunai at the approaching sea of blackness that bubbled and twisted like a living entity as it inched ever closer to her. The tide of tar-like substance backed away as the kunai struck the ground becoming embedded almost to the handle. As with her earlier attempts at slowing the approaching cursed seal down it retreated and then flowed forward once more crawling over the kunai and sucking it up into itself.

"Get back!" Sakura shouted as she launched multiple kunai at the cursed seal causing it to retreat to avoid being perforated by the deadly throwing knives. Sakura almost cheered but her sense of danger flared.

Quickly spinning around with a kunai held ready to stab what ever was behind her, she blanched as the cursed seal rose up off the ground like a tar tidal wave. The towering wave rose high above Sakura's head before dropping down towards her.

Sakura back flipped away from the cursed seal's attempt at capturing her as fast as she could manage and landed a good distance away from the blackness as it thickly splattered onto the ground. Breathing heavily Sakura glanced around as she desperately tried to come up with a plan. Her glance of the surrounding area sent a chill through her as her situation was becoming more desperate by the second.

The cursed seal had spread and was covering almost all of the area that made up her and Ranma's shared mindscape, leaving only a small area where she was clear of the blackness. Near the centre of the mindscape was the roughly square box that held Ranma. Sakura could feel Ranma's fear even this far away and whatever was in there with the other girl had Ranma in its power. Sakura's only plan she had come up with so far was to free Ranma from whatever it was and then Ranma could…well she did not know exactly what Ranma could do but it was the best she could come up with at the moment. The cursed seal seemed unbeatable to Sakura and she was getting scared as nothing she had tried so far barely slowed it down.

A movement from her right caught from the corner of her eye was the only warning Sakura had as the cursed seal once again lunged towards her. This time instead of a huge wave of blackness the seal formed multiple clawed arms which rushed twisting and spinning around each other towards the pink haired girl.

Sakura dodged as best she could and slashed at the closest arms slicing most off. The severed limbs dissolved away before even hitting the ground and the handless pieces still attached to the black mass retracted.

Sakura yelped in shock and pain as one hand managed to clamp down on her left arm just above her wrist. Where the hand had hold of her arm burned. Sakura grit her teeth and lopped the offending limb off at the wrist and backed away cradling her stinging arm against her chest.

Sakura looked down at the hand that was still attached to her arm. As she watched the black-hand melted away, dripping off her arm revealing a nasty wet wound on her skin, similar to a carpet burn. Staring at the wound Sakura remembered Kakashi's words that the seal would try to consume her and her stomach churned at the thought of being dissolved by the cursed seal.

Sakura's moment of checking her wound was enough time for the cursed seal to capitalise and two arms snaked forward low to the ground and proceeded to grab hold of Sakura's ankles. Sakura shrieked in shock and pain as the arms pulled her legs out from under her causing her to fall to the ground. Sakura desperately twisted herself around and began kicking with her legs trying to dislodge the seal even as her ankles burned in agony.

"No!" Sakura shouted tears springing in her eyes as the cursed seal formed into a circle around her and began closing in slowly. In her panic she did not see the other arms which rushed in to grab her wrists and proceeded to pull her arms up above her head leaving the girl held kneeling on the ground by the hands on her ankles and her arms held up out of the way.

Through the agony Sakura saw the cursed seal rising up as it took its time approaching knowing fully well that she was now helpless. Sakura felt a massive wave of hatred for this black monster form in herself and she glared at the seal defiantly.

"If you're going to kill me just get it over with you bastard!" Sakura growled though clenched teeth. She was sure the thing was grinning at her and this only angered her more.

"Well, well. This is a surprise." chuckled a deep malevolent voice above Sakura causing her to look up to come eye to eye with the demon fox Kyuubi who was floating high above her head looking down at the scene below. "You're still alive."

Sakura stared in surprise her situation forgotten for the moment as her anger was replaced by surprise. "What?"

Kyuubi grinned in his way revealing his many razor sharp teeth and chuckled again. The cursed seal seemed as surprised as Sakura at the fox's appearance and it formed a bunch of black arms which shot upwards at the fox. Kyuubi cocked his head to one side as he ignored the approaching arms to stare at the black square in the middle of the area. The cursed seal's attack was blocked and burned away by Kyuubi's aura as he nonchalantly turned back to Sakura.

"I take it Saotome is in the box." Kyuubi stated eyeing Sakura strangely.

Sakura's anger came back full force and she shouted at the fox demon. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue Saotome from the so-called cursed seal." Kyuubi chuckled evilly at Sakura's expression of angry disbelief. "I expected you to be eaten by now…although…you are his reincarnation so you're probably just as surprising as he was."

"What do you mean?" Sakura stared at the fox demon even as the seal made a second attempt at hurting the fox.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Kyuubi grinned as the seal's arms were once again destroyed by his aura. "You and Ranma are one and the same. Your old memories should never have been woken but this cursed seal happened."

"That's crazy!" Sakura shouted in disbelief. "Then why did Ranma appear here with me?"

"Who knows?" Kyuubi said looking Sakura over thoughtfully. "Maybe you have a fragmented personality causing Ranma to appear as another one."

Sakura glared at the fox. She was in pain and angry and the fox saying stupid things was not helping any and she snapped back. "If you're not going to be helpful why don't you leave!"

"You dare talk to me like this little monkey!" Kyuubi roared loudly shaking the very mindscape with the volume of his roar.

At any other time Sakura would have cowered from the fox's roar but the situation she found herself in facing an almost certain death by being devoured slowly by the cursed seal Sakura did not even flinch and glared back at the fox.

Kyuubi's angry expression turned to one of pleased amusement and he grinned down at Sakura again. "You truly are his reincarnation. Very few would dare to talk like that to me. The only other in over a thousand years who dared was the one to seal me that night I found where Saotome had been reborn." Kyuubi paused to lean closer grinning evilly towards the captured girl. "Make a contract with me and I'll give you the power to save yourself and Ranma from the seal."

Sakura blinked in surprise at the fox's offer. Even in her current predicament her mind worked through the reasons the fox could be offering his help. She instinctively knew she should not trust the demon but without his help she knew she would be killed.

"Why are you doing this?" Sakura asked.

"If you wish to know you'll need to ask Ranma." Kyuubi smirked. "Your answer. Yes or no?"

Sakura stared at the fox her mind already made up. She would save Ranma and herself even if it meant making a deal with a devil.

"Yes."

x X x

Kankuro and Temari stood slightly behind Gaara who stood impassively watching the scene below them from their rooftop position. A purple and black cat creature was thrashing around in the middle of a street with the blond haired boy, Naruto from the preliminary matches clinging onto the thing's back. What shocked them the most had been when the blond boy had destroyed a whole building by forming a massive clawed hand with his aura.

Kankuro and Temari stared at each other in shock as they realised what the blond boy was.

"I never knew Konoha had a demon vessel." Kankuro swallowed as he began to visualise what could go wrong during the invasion with this new information. It was no wonder that Konoha's Hokage had stopped the match with blond boy. If he was as unstable as Gaara…

"Gaara…which one is it?" Temari asked worried as she too revaluated the invasion plan.

"The nine tails." Gaara answered not taking his eyes off the scene below.

Kankuro almost dropped his puppet at Gaara's answer. "Shit. That messes everything up."

"Can you beat it?" Temari asked Gaara.

Gaara turned slightly to them before answering. "Not in a one on one fight."

"We're screwed then." Kankuro stated. "The invasion will have to be called off until we can deal with the boy. What is he fighting anyway? Is it another demon vessel?"

Gaara returned his attention fully to the battle below and spoke once again. "The wild horse."

x X x

"Excellent." Kyuubi chuckled pleased with the way the situation had so far played out. Not only would Ranma owe him a favour but he would have a contract with his reincarnation and by extension Ranma himself. Kyuubi grinned as he was shortly going to be one step closer to escaping from his prison.

"This will hurt." Kyuubi stated to Sakura in amusement even as he began to seal their deal. As the demon fox concentrated a small chunk of his aura separated and floated around to hover in front of the fox's face. The blob of chakra condensed to form a sphere roughly the size of a basketball. Kyuubi examined the floating chakra sphere critically like an artist would examine their greatest work of art and nodded pleased with what he had created. With a thought the demon fox sent the chakra ball hurtling towards the restrained girl below.

Sakura had a couple of seconds to brace herself before the chakra sphere slammed into her abdomen. Sakura was slammed backwards and bent over from the impact and the only reason she was not thrown across the mindscape was due to being held tightly by the cursed seal.

Sakura threw her head back in a wordless scream as part of Kyuubi's essence burned into her and began to swiftly fill her chakra coils with the fox's lent chakra. The foreign energy bubbled and burned as it spread throughout her. Almost immediately Sakura's coils were filled with Kyuubi's chakra and the sphere had barely begun to be absorbed. As more energy was forced into her Sakura felt like she would explode as her chakra coils came close to bursting.

Kyuubi had planned for this though; he knew Sakura would not be able to contain the amount of energy he had sent to her unless he made some changes to her during the process of absorbing the chakra. Kyuubi's essence began to strengthen Sakura's chakra coils even as more energy was forced into them. The result was her chakra coils became reinforced and the lent chakra was being forcefully compressed.

Sakura clenched her teeth in agony even as her canines enlarged as Kyuubi's essence went about with further changes. Three whisker like markings appeared on her cheeks just like Naruto's and her hands and feet became clawed. As the last of the chakra sphere was absorbed her pupils changed to become slitted and her eyes became red in colouration.

With a roar Sakura ripped herself free from the cursed seal's hold with an ease that surprised herself. As she bounded to her feet she checked her arms and found the wounds she had suffered had already vanished. The pain was fading rapidly to be replaced with a feeling of power and Sakura began to grin ferally.

The cursed seal reacted by sending more arms to try and grab her once more. This time Sakura found her reactions so good now that she could almost lazily avoid the attacking appendages. As one passed by close she casually reached out to grab the clawed hand by the wrist. This time it was the cursed seal that was burned by Sakura's aura and with a grin she crushed the wrist making the black substance spray from between her fingers and severing the hand which melted away before it even hit the ground.

As the cursed seal withdrew the arms that had attacked, Sakura took advantage to swipe her clawed hands at the nearby appendages. Her aura seemed to react with her intentions and formed claws long enough to slice cleanly through the arms once again reducing the amount of the seal.

The seal changed tactics and began forming another wave in an attempt to overpower the pink haired fox-girl. Sakura watched the wave swell up in front of herself and grinned. Standing with her feet far apart and knees bent she crossed her arms in front of her face holding her palms outwards so her claws where pointing at the approaching black wave.

Once the wave got close enough she uncrossed her arms rapidly and shouted. Her aura reacted as she wanted and formed long serrated claws which shredded the wave completely at her face height causing the large chunk of the cursed seal that had formed the wave to melt away harmlessly over her head.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura crowed as she saw that the large chunk she had removed had caused the seal to shrink by a good amount. With growing confidence Sakura sprinted forwards and slashed out another triangular chunk of the cursed seal. The piece she had cut off melted away once more and the seal drew back.

Sakura grinned and looked over at the bulge in the distance that was the originator of all this trouble. That was her target but to get to it she would have to carve her way there which suited Sakura as she wanted to cause the seal as much pain as it had done to her and Ranma.

Kyuubi floated above the battle and grinned smugly as Sakura began to tear into the cursed seal shredding a path as she made her way towards the heart of the seal. The girl was turning out better than he expected, she was more than willing to cause pain and destruction against her enemy which was precisely what Kyuubi would have done.

"Excellent! Show me what you can do girl!" Kyuubi encouraged Sakura as she drew close to the heart of the seal. "Release your rage!"

Sakura barely heard the demon fox egging her on as she was lost in the heat of battle. Once she was in range Sakura leapt at the seal's heart and used her claws to dig into the blackness to leave her hanging onto the cursed seal. With a roar she began twisting her claws into the black mass and the seal began to shriek and hiss as she inflicted damage to the very centre of it. Sakura grinned pleased as the sounds of pain from the seal indicated that it was working. The wounds she had inflicted bled a thin black liquid and Sakura twisted her claws further.

The seal was not dying fast enough for Sakura so she reared her head back and then thrust forward and clamped her teeth onto the seal as well before beginning to shake her head. With a wet tearing sound Sakura ripped a chunk of the seal away with her teeth and spat the disgusting piece out. The gaping hole she left in the seal spurted black ooze and with a final shriek the seal began sliding down the door taking Sakura downwards with it.

Sakura blinked in surprise as all the blackness that covered the mindscape began to melt away. Letting go of the rapidly shrinking blackness she dropped to the ground landing on all fours before standing up slowly to observe the remains of the seal melt. The roughly square chunk in the middle that contained Ranma stayed in place strangely and Sakura frowned.

As Sakura cautiously approached the remaining blackness the box began collapsing to her relief. She watched hopefully waiting for a sign that Ranma was aright. As most of the box had melted away Ranma's body shape was revealed covered in the blackness as it continued to melt away.

"Ranma!" Sakura shouted rushing forward as the other girl slowly raised herself onto all fours. As Sakura approach Ranma's head snapped up to glare at Sakura who stopped in her tracks in surprise. Ranma's face and skin was half covered in black marks that were arranged completely randomly and the girl hissed angrily at Sakura.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked as Ranma tensed ready to pounce.

"Neko-ken." Kyuubi's voice rumbled startling Sakura as she glanced at the fox demon. "Or cat fist, a supposedly unbeatable martial art technique that was actually a primitive ritual of possession. Looks like the cursed seal had enough time to hide itself on Saotome and is using his fear to control him through the neko-ken."

"How do I bring Ranma back?" Sakura asked trying to keep Ranma in her vision as the girl began stalking around her.

"Neko-ken acts purely on instinct. It is mindless. All you have to do is take control of it." Kyuubi stated.

"Take control of it? How?" Sakura growled back trying to figure out what the fox meant.

"Humans…" Kyuubi sighed. "I thought you were smart enough to understand that you and Ranma are the same person. You just have to control the neko-ken and remove the last of the cursed seal."

"Just!" Sakura shouted angrily. "How I'm I supposed to _just_ do that?"

"Grab her and make yourself whole." Kyuubi stated shaking her head.

Sakura growled but did not answer back. 'Grab Ranma then figure it out.' She thought to herself. With a burst of speed Sakura leapt at the neko-girl only to find Ranma was faster than she was. Ranma bounced out of the way and slashed at Sakura's back. Sakura twisted enough to avoid any serious damage but the invisible claws left scratches against her upper arm.

Even as the wound healed over Sakura launched herself at Ranma and managed to tackle the girl to the ground where she began hissing and violently thrashing around and Sakura found herself having to hold on with all her strength just to prevent herself from being thrown off.

"Well…this is diverting." Kyuubi smirked at the sight of the two girls tumbling around on the ground.

Sakura manage to wrestle the struggling catgirl into a headlock before trying to will themselves together.

x X x

Naruto grimaced as the cat once more smashed through a building wall dragging him with it. Shortly after it had realised Naruto was not going to be shaken off easily the cat aura-beast decided it would be fun to go for a destructive run through Konoha's main streets. After that had failed, it then decided to smash its way through buildings in its latest attempt at removing the glowing menace.

Naruto yelped as a brick smashed into his face when they burst out the other side of the building into another street.

"Will you hurry up damn fox!" Naruto growled.

'Shut it brat!' Kyuubi's voice growled in Naruto's head. 'It's done.'

"Finally!" Naruto cheered as the cat aura-beast suddenly vanished from under him leaving Sakura and Naruto to fall towards the ground. As Kyuubi's aura still had hold of Sakura's neck when it pulled back it brought Sakura to Naruto allowing him to grab the unconscious girl and gently land on his feet. Naruto blushed as he then realised Sakura's state of dress much to Kyuubi's amusement.

'Kyuubi?' Naruto thought as the red aura faded away from him and he felt himself return to normal. There was no answer.

"Naruto?" Sarutobi's voice called out as a shadow fell over the two of them.

"Hey old man! We did it!" Naruto cheered. When he turned around his face fell at the serious expression on the Hokage's face and the sight of what must have been nearly half of Konoha's shinobi force looking down at him many with expression of anger caused the blond boy to swallow in worry.

x X x

Sakura knelt in the middle of her mindscape breathing heavily her new old memories of being Ranma continued to play havoc inside her head. She had a mighty headache and could still feel the demon fox's chakra flowing in her.

The instant Ranma's memories had flowed into her head Sakura had been forced to immediately send many of the memories to the back of her mind as the rush of information was almost too much for her too handle. She would have to sort through them later and decide who she was as well. This was going to be troublesome.

The curse seal flared or tried to flare but she resisted it easily now that she had access to chakra once more and Ranma's knowledge of ki. With an angry growl she reached back and dug her still clawed hands into her neck around the cursed seal drawing blood from the wounds.

With a shriek of pain she torn the seal and a chuck of flesh away and held the remains of the cursed seal in front of her face even as the wound healed and vanished. With and angry growl she focused power into her hand burning the remains of the cursed seal away, destroying it completely.

In the back of her mind she felt Kyuubi chuckling away in his prison. The demon fox had pulled one over her. She knew that now, but it was too late to change the fact she had been linked to the monster.

"You wont ever leave me in peace will you?" Sakura/Ranma growled.

**Chapter 11 – Tough Choices**

Sarutobi took a deep draw from his pipe in an attempt to remain calm and collected in front of the assembled council members and house heads. The hastily called meeting had dragged on for hours now and was going exactly the way he had feared. A vote had been called to decide what would be the best course of action to protect the village.

Despite his best efforts and arguments he suspected that the outcome of the vote would not be good news for Naruto or even Sakura. After all many on the council disliked Naruto and this was just the ammunition they had been waiting for.

Sarutobi watched the box containing the votes of the council members as it was slowly passed around the room allowing each member of the council to place their suggestion in privacy. Glancing over towards the back of the room Sarutobi met Jiraiya's eyes and the toad sennin nodded his head slightly letting Sarutobi know that he too already suspected the outcome as well and did not agree. Next to him Kakashi leaned back pretending to read or maybe he was reading that book again.

As the last vote was placed in the box it was passed over to Homura and Koharu, Sarutobi's former team members and trusted advisors. Despite their close friendship he knew they too did not agree with allowing Naruto some of the chances to advance in rank that Sarutobi had allowed.

Homura and Koharu proceeded to examine each vote in turn and talk quietly between themselves. Once they finished counting the votes Homura turned to face Sarutobi a serious expression on his face.

"The Council has come to a unanimous decision."

Sarutobi looked around the room taking in each serious face and nodded for him to continue a chill settling in his gut.

"It has been decided that the Kyuubi vessel and the girl are too dangerous to be left running around in this village…maybe even the world. They must be destroyed."

Sarutobi frowned in disgust at the pleased expressions on a couple of faces but held his tongue for the moment as he thought through his next words. He almost sighed as Jiraiya shook his head and left the room quietly. For the loud and flashy Jiraiya to leave without a word showed how deep his disgust was.

"So…I take it to mean that everyone is in agreement to _murder_ two children?" Sarutobi stated calmly emphasising the word murder. "Two of Konoha's own gennins?"

"They may just be children but one is the container of the nine-tails and the other we know nothing of except that the nine-tails is familiar with it." Koharu stated. "I don't like the idea but I like the idea of the nine-tails being able to subvert the boy's consciousness so easily and go on more rampages through the village even less."

"The demon was released for less than ten minutes and the destruction is still being tallied up now, a day later." Homura continued after Koharu. Sarutobi thought they must practice that to himself as he listened. "We were lucky to have had only one death and a few injuried. Luckily the injuries only ranged from just scrapes and bruises through to broken bones. The property damage alone will take days to repair." With a slight pause to adjust his glasses Homura continued to speak. "The damage can be repaired and the bones will heal but the fear of the nine-tails has been strengthened in the villager's hearts. Many old wounds have been reopened with the reappearance of the demon's chakra. If something is not done to placate the people I fear they may try to take matters into their own hands and move against the containers."

"Naruto and … " Sarutobi paused thinking of which name to use for the girl and settled for Sakura as that was more familiar to people. "Sakura are under ANBU guard for their own and _our_ safety. If people move against them they move against my will." Sarutobi stated.

"And if you release them back into the village what then? Will you pass a law forbidding attacks against them? Place them under a full guard twenty four hours a day?" Koharu asked her face grim.

Sarutobi sighed as the weight of leadership weighed down upon him. He wanted the people to see Naruto the way the Fourth had wished, as a hero chosen to contain the demon away from the world but people's fear had warped that into a belief that Naruto was the demon. Sarutobi knew deep down that people's opinions would not be changed easily now and just as Naruto had been gaining the trust of some this had to happen. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had a duty to the people to listen and act on their wishes but he wanted to help the two children whose destinies had forced this situation. He had to try and get the council on his side as they were the main contacts with the villagers.

"Naruto has already told me his story. I don't believe the Kyuubi can take him over without Naruto's permission. I have _stressed_ to him how foolish he was and that he will be punished." Sarutobi told the assembled council members. "Did any of you listen when I explained his side? He made sure that the demon would return after he had saved Sakura. The boy did what he did for his friend."

"And the only reason we're still around now is because it did as promised. What if it had not? What if it was a trick so that next time it could go free?" Hiashi Hyuga asked hypothetically. There was chorus of agreements to that.

"Naruto promised me that it would not happen again. I trust him." Sarutobi stated firmly.

"Like with Orochimaru?" stated Danzo in his emotionless tone bringing a silence over the room at the mention of Sarutobi's former student and almost successor.

"What are you insinuating?" Sarutobi almost growled at his once rival for the position of Hokage. The one armed elder ignored Sarutobi's tone and turned his bandage covered face to address the Hokage.

"Did Orochimaru not trick all of us easily? Only luck revealed what he was doing right under our noses and he is just a man. A genius but still human." Danzo spoke calmly. "The nine-tails is an ancient being of massive destructive power, probably thousands of years old and possessing an alien cunning beyond our understanding. Would we really be able to tell if the boy was controlled or not? As fear and hate lead to wars the safest thing to do would be to remove them thus removing the fear."

Sarutobi felt his heart sink at Danzo's words. From anyone else those words might have been said in anger or an attempt at undermining Sarutobi's position but this was Danzo. He had a lot of sway with the council as Danzo was one of the few people who would calmly think through a problem and come to a decision based on the facts and not let emotion cloud his judgement. If he was in favour of removing Naruto and Sakura then Sarutobi knew he was fighting a losing battle.

It was at this point Kakashi snapped his book shut drawing attention to the silver-haired copy-ninja. Kakashi pretended to be embarrassed as every eye in the room turned to him.

"If you'll excuse me I've got to check on Sasuke." Kakashi drawled out as he placed his book into the folds of his armour.

"Very well." Sarutobi gave his consent and Kakashi vanished in puff of smoke.

x X x

Sasuke sat on one of Konoha's taller buildings and observed the clean up operation going on below. The streets below had been closed to the public while building contractors went about clearing the mess and repairing the damage. The trail of destruction began at the Hokage's tower and spread easterly almost a mile in a roughly straight line.

Sasuke clenched his fists in anger as he tried to imagine what sort of power Naruto had to be able to cause this level of devastation. The day before when Naruto had changed was stuck in Sasuke's head and replayed over and over. The aura of power rolling off of the boy who was supposed to be the worst of the rookie nine had shaken Sasuke's world views once more. The same as Sakura or as he really meant Ranma had during the second trial.

Naruto had knocked Sasuke out in one blow and then went on to fight with a possessed Ranma through the village and won. If the cursed seal boosted a person's power like Kakashi had explained then Ranma would have been boosted higher than when she fought Sasuke in the preliminaries. For Naruto to defeat Ranma in such a boosted state…Naruto would have to be incredibly powerful and this fact was not sitting well with Sasuke. He had gone from being the number one on the team to suddenly being the last and by a large margin and that was pissing him off thoroughly.

Sasuke thought back to when he had fought against Haku in wave country. There he had been beaten, if only because he had come to Naruto's defence and Naruto had then gone onto beat Haku while Sasuke was unconscious. Then the time in the Forest Of Death Naruto had shown a strength that surprised Sasuke. The pieces to the puzzle were not clearing it up but making it weirder.

Where had he gotten that power from? Sasuke remembered staring into Naruto's blood red eyes and frowned at a thought. Maybe Naruto had a bloodline limit as well. It would explain the boy's sudden and dramatic increases in strength. After waking up from his enforced slumber Sasuke had asked Kakashi or rather demanded to be told how Naruto had gotten so strong but the copy-ninja had stated some crap about village laws and refused to speak anymore about it.

Sasuke was determined to find the source of Naruto's strength and if nobody would tell him he would go to Naruto himself and make the boy tell him somehow.

With a determined nod and his mind made up Sasuke turned and leapt off the roof, falling a couple of floors to land on a flat roofed building next to his vantage point. Without missing a beat Sasuke proceeded to run across the roof and jump across the gap to the next building. Sasuke's determined expression did not leave his face as he roof-hopped across the village rooftops making his way towards the Hokage's tower where he knew Naruto was being guarded.

Arriving at the tower Sasuke was annoyed to find himself turned away by the guards. Despite him telling them he was on Naruto's team they would not let him in. Pretending to concede defeat Sasuke left and once out of the guard's sight took to the rooftops again and made his way to the rear of the tower.

Glancing up at the tower's windows Sasuke began checking for a way in that was unguarded. Spotting a window that was ajar a couple of floors up Sasuke used his stealth training to climb the tower unnoticed and enter through the window.

Carefully closing the window Sasuke found himself in a nondescript room with a couple of bookcases filled with scrolls or various sizes. A small desk stood against the wall opposite the bookcases with a plain wooden chair. He must have entered by a small study room.

With practiced ease Sasuke slipped out the room into the corridor and began to walk stealthily in a random direction. From the other day he knew that the sixth floor would be off limits with repair work going on so he reasoned Naruto would be held on a lower level, probably at least two below because of the structural damage.

Pausing to listen carefully at the first door he came to Sasuke slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open a fraction then peeked through the gap he had made. The room was empty and he closed the door with a faint click. The next three rooms Sasuke came to had the same results.

As Sasuke followed the curve of the corridor he came to a halt and quickly backed up out of sight of an ANBU member standing next to a door, obviously guarding the room. Sasuke frowned at the complication that he should have expected and quickly thought of a plan.

"Hey. Is this the room where they're keeping Naruto? I'm on his team and wanted to check if he's alright." Sasuke asked stepping into view while trying to appearing as harmless as he could.

The ANBU member turned to face Sasuke his face hidden by the hawk mask he was wearing. The guard took a quick look at Sasuke.

"How did you get in? And nobody is supposed to see him." The ANBU guard stated his voice dangerous and slightly muffled behind the mask as Sasuke approached him. Sasuke was pleased inside as the guards words confirmed Naruto was in that room.

"Oh?" Sasuke pretended to play dumb. "Kakashi-sensei said I could visit him."

The ANBU guard examined Sasuke before replying. "Stay right there. I'll have to check that." The guard began reaching for a radio to confirm Sasuke's story.

'Damn! This is going to go wrong.' Sasuke thought in panic as he stupidly reached for a kunai. His entire focus was on finding out why Naruto had gotten so strong that he forgot that attacking an ANBU would be taken as treason.

A hand dropped onto Sasuke's shoulder freezing the boy, his hand only inches from his weapon pouch. Looking over his shoulder he saw Kakashi.

"There you are Sasuke." Kakashi smiled as he squeezed Sasuke's shoulder hard letting him know he had been caught. Sasuke forced himself not to flinch from his sensei's grip. "I said you could visit Naruto later. Come along."

Kakashi turned Sasuke around before speaking to the guard. "Sorry about this. He gets a little ahead of himself sometimes."

Once out of earshot Kakashi leaned down to speak in Sasuke's ear. "That was extremely stupid of you Sasuke. I could have expected something like that from Naruto but not you."

Sasuke shook Kakashi's hand off his shoulder and glared at the copy-ninja. "Why do you care? If you had told me what's going on then I wouldn't have had to try that!"

"I…can't tell you." Kakashi stated with a frown his voice not quite as sure as it usually was.

"Naruto's on my team. I need to know." Sasuke growled. He hoped by changing tactics and using the team angle as Kakashi was big on teamwork that he would tell him. "And don't give me that crap about the laws."

Kakashi stared at Sasuke for what seemed like hours to the boy as the copy-ninja was obviously deep in thought. Finally he answered.

"Fine." Kakashi said with a sigh and while Sasuke blinked in surprise the copy-ninja walked past him. "Follow me."

Kakashi proceeded to lead Sasuke down the stairs and outside. Once in the streets they took to the rooftops. Sasuke followed Kakashi until the copy-ninja stopped on one of the flat rooftops and checked around carefully for eavesdroppers while Sasuke landed next to him.

"This is about as private as we'll get." Kakashi stated as he walked over to the roof's edge and placed one foot on the raised portion and looked out over Konoha hands in pockets.

"So what's the deal?" Sasuke asked walking over to his sensei.

"Telling you this will get me in _big_ trouble." Kakashi stated to Sasuke's interest. 'Probably won't matter in a little while if I go through with my plan.' Kakashi thought to himself before continuing to speak to Sasuke. "Shortly after the Third's reinstatement he passed a law forbidding anyone not there at the time from speaking of the event."

"What event?"

"The attack of the nine-tails twelve years ago. An attack which coincides with Naruto's birthday." Kakashi stated and watched Sasuke's face go from surprise to deep puzzlement.

"But the nine-tails was destroyed by the Fourth right? What does that have to do with…" Sasuke paused as he thought back to Naruto's change and the red aura around him that had formed a shape like a fox? Sasuke's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place and the implications.

"The Fourth was a great and powerful Hokage but do you think any shinobi has the strength to destroy a Bijuu? Especially the strongest of them?" Kakashi asked.

"Then…" Sasuke frowned in puzzlement. "Naruto is the nine-tails?"

"No he is not." Kakashi spoke sharply. "Naruto was chosen by the Fourth to be the demon's prison. He sealed the demon into Naruto locking the nine-tails away for good at the cost of his own life. Or so he thought."

Sasuke stared at Kakashi deep in thought. So that was why Naruto was so strong at times. He had the chakra of the most powerful Bijuu in him. "So…Naruto can use the nine-tails' chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"At certain times yes. I believe he tapped the fox's chakra for the first time on the bridge after he thought you had been killed."

"Naruto must have been born special then." Sasuke thought out loud as he began imagining what he could do with the power of the nine-tails. Itachi would not stand a chance.

"Actually he was just unlucky to be picked. It could have been any newborn at the time." Kakashi stated causing Sasuke's head to snap up in surprise. 'It could have been any newborn?' Sasuke thought to himself and cursed his luck. It could have been him!

"You see only a…hmmm?" Kakashi glanced off into the distance stopping the discussion. "Damn! I've got to go."

Sasuke stared in growing anger as Kakashi vanished into smoke leaving him alone with his thoughts.

x X x

Kabuto smirked to himself as the last ANBU guarding the sleeping girl fell. It had been child's play to sneak in and kill the guards around Sakura. They had not even seen him coming until he severed the aorta of their hearts with chakra formed into a scalpel, one of his favourite attacks as it would not leave a mark and Kabuto was nothing if not a perfectionist.

Kabuto walked over to the sleeping girl's bed and stared down at her while using a finger to prevent his glasses from slipping down the bridge of his nose. With a surprised frown Kabuto noticed the newly added whisker marks on the sleeping girl's cheeks. Far lighter than the one's that adorned Naruto's face but still very similar leading Kabuto to speculate their meaning.

"Could you be another Bijuu? After yesterday's rampage I'm inclined to think so." Kabuto told Sakura while she slept calmly.

"To think you could turn out so interesting." Kabuto stated as he began unhooking the equipment attached to Sakura. "My boss is extremely eager to find out your secrets. Plus you'll make a nice lure for Orochimaru's real target."

Kabuto reach down to grab the girl's shoulder and was surprised when she shifted to avoid his grab leaving him leaning over her hands against the bed while she mumbled cutely in her sleep.

"What?" Kabuto blinked as he stood back up straight and checked her vital signs to see if she was still asleep. Her heart beat and breathing told him she was. Deciding it must have been a fluke he tried to grab the girl again only to have her roll out of the way once more. This left her lying on her left side.

"G'way pops…head urt." Sakura mumbled while Kabuto stood up perplexed at the girl's ability to dodge in her sleep. Growing curious Kabuto threw a light jab at the sleeping girl's head. At the last second Sakura twisted her head out of Kabuto's way leaving him to punch the bed lightly.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow incredulously and pulled back his fist and tried again faster this time. Again Sakura dodged and Kabuto stared at her with a look of amused disbelief playing on his face.

Kabuto raised his head slightly as his attention was drawn to Kakashi who had appeared behind him suddenly. "Ah. Kakashi-san."

x X x

Sarutobi sat in his private room he used to relax and pay his respects to the previous Hokages. Their pictures lined the far wall and in a rare moment of frustration Sarutobi had his head in his hands. The old man sighed and looked at the picture of the Fourth.

Not for the first time did he curse the demon fox that had brought this whole situation. If only it had not appeared Sarutobi would be enjoying his retirement and not contemplating how he was going to put things straight. But that was in the past and he knew nobody could change that.

He could order Naruto and Sakura to be put to death. That would please many people of the village but then their deaths would weigh heavily on his soul. If he did nothing then the villagers might rebel and try and kill the two anyway. The only solution he could see to save them was to banish them from the village. Even that left them at the mercy of the world where they could be hunted down if someone took it into their head to do so.

A knock at the door drew Sarutobi's attention as Jiraiya stepped into the room and closed to door behind himself.

"Hey old man." Jiraiya smiled while walking over to Sarutobi. His face fell into a grimace at Sarutobi's expression of defeat. "I take it you've been unable to convince them."

"They had their minds made up long before this even happened. They've just been waiting for a chance, like circling vultures." Sarutobi stated with a shake of his head. Jiraiya sighed and walked over to the pictures and stared at the one of his former student, hands held behind his back and the room fell into silence.

Letting out a deep breath Sarutobi stood up and walked over to the window and stared out over the village. "I have three choices as I see it. I can sentence them to death and try and live with myself for the remainder of my time. I could allow them to live against the council's advice and leave them to the villager's mercy. Or I can banish them and hope they can find some kind of life outside the village."

"It's a problem for sure." Jiraiya stated turning to face Sarutobi's back. "And I have information that will make it a tougher choice for you."

Sarutobi turned to Jiraiya and stared at his former student and noticed he was deadly serious.

"During my information gathering as I followed Orochimaru I discovered that he had joined a certain organisation." Jiraiya told Sarutobi whose frown deepened. "A group called Akatsuki."

"The Dawn?" Sarutobi asked. "I've only heard a couple of things about them. They are a mercenary group who have been accepting missions for a tiny fraction that most shinobi villages would charge."

"Correct. My information has turned up that there may only be ten or less members. However they all seem to be S-Rank missing-nin."

"Why would he join a mercenary group?" Sarutobi pondered.

"Itachi Uchiha." Jiraiya answered causing Sarutobi's confusion to increase. "Apparently they had a falling out and Orochimaru fled the organisation. Seems he bit off more than he could chew trying to gain the Sharingan from Sasuke's older brother."

"That's why he's after Sasuke. He could not defeat Itachi and is now after the only other Sharingan user." Sarutobi stated. "But why would this affect my decision on Naruto and Sakura?"

"Because Akatsuki has apparently captured some of the Bijuu and as far as I can tell are hunting down the remaining ones. As Naruto has one sealed inside him that makes him a target." Jiraiya informed Sarutobi with a grimace.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and leaned his head back in desperation. "So…if I banish them Naruto will be an easier target for them then. Damn it! Naruto will need the protection of an entire village against that level of missing-nin."

"I know." Jiraiya stated. "That's why I'm going to offer to look after them and train them seeing as no one else in this village will. I owe the Fourth that much."

"Are you sure?" Sarutobi asked. "You'll end up with Akatsuki and probably Orochimaru after you as well as he has shown an interest in Sakura…" Sarutobi paused in thought. "Ranma maybe able to hold her own but what of Naruto? Can you train him in such short time?"

Jiraiya scratched his head in worry. "Doubtful. But we may be able to give him a shortcut if he can train himself to access the nine-tail's chakra he might stand a chance with myself and Ranma helping."

Sarutobi stroked his beard deep in thought as he weighed up the options. The banishment was the only way but was Jiraiya capable of protecting them by himself? Against maybe one or two he could probably hold his own easily…but against the entire group? Not a chance.

"Jiraiya, you have my permission to go though with this plan with one stipulation." Sarutobi told the toad sennin. Jiraiya watched Sarutobi intently waiting for the Hokage to tell him what he wanted.

"You will need help to protect them from whatever dangers they will face. I want you to find and convince Tsunade to help you. Use any means you can."

x X x

"You are no gennin." Kakashi stated observing the four dead ANBU's in the room while addressing Kabuto as he stood over Sakura's bed. "Who are you working for?"

"Heh." Kabuto stated with a smirk before flicking a hidden scalpel towards the copy-ninja aimed at Kakashi's blind spot. Kakashi easily caught the thrown weapon while Kabuto turned to face him, Kabuto's smile never leaving his face. "Catching that from your blind spot. You are everything I was told Kakashi-san. As for who I'm working for…it's Orochimaru."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, only his visible eye showed this though. "You're admitting to that so easily? You are either giving up or confident in your abilities."

With speed that no gennin should possess Kabuto shot forward producing another scalpel in his hand and slashing at Kakashi who dodged to the side as Kabuto passed him. Suddenly the copy-ninja found another weapon embedded into his throat and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kabuto blinked as he found a kunai pressed against his throat and Kakashi standing behind himself. "Well…you are good." Kabuto acknowledged. "What will you do with me now?"

"Oh I don't know." Kakashi said amused. "Maybe a trip to a nice interrogation cell."

"Kabuto? Kakashi?" Sakura's voice called out distracting the two as Sakura sat up tiredly rubbing her eyes. This was just enough time for Kabuto to elbow Kakashi in the gut and sprint towards the window. Kakashi recovered in time to throw his kunai at Kabuto's retreating back. Kabuto dived through the glass as the kunai lightly nicked his shoulder. Kakashi rushed over to see the spy disappear with a smile and wave.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked while she examined the bodies on the floor drawing Kakashi's attention to her. As he observed her something seemed odd. Staring hard he noticed her eyes were neither blue nor green but a mixture leaving them a light cyan like clear seawater.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked trying to figure out who was in control of the body.

"I think so." Sakura frowned as she replied rubbing her head slightly like you would try to relive a slight headache.

"You think so?" Kakashi asked walking over to her. "What happened to you and Ranma?"

"We had to fight the cursed seal. It was winning then the fox appeared. It…helped…Sakura…me fight the cursed seal off and I got my old memories back. I'm confused." Sakura stated with a deep frown.

"Old memories back? Then Ranma remembers her past?" Kakashi asked the girl who looked at him funnily.

"I am Ranma." Sakura stated to Kakashi's confusion. "I mean I was Ranma…once. I'm supposed to be Sakura in this life. This is confusing."

"I'll say. I'm confused already but you don't have time for being confused." Kakashi stated causing Sakura to focus her attention on Kakashi. "The destruction you've caused has the village in an uproar. The council has recommended to the Hokage that you and Naruto are to be destroyed."

"What?" Sakura screeched in shock. Kakashi winced at the volume but continued and placed his hands on Sakura's shoulders to calm her. "Sarutobi won't want to but he may have to give into the request to keep the peace. You and Naruto have to run. I'll help you get out."

"But…then they'll say you're a missing-nin too." Sakura stated as she went over the rules on missing-nin. What Kakashi was suggesting would have them all placed in the bingo books. Sakura felt Ranma's feelings on honour swell up and she knew she would not let Kakashi do that for her.

"I know." Kakashi told her as he helped her climb off the bed and steadied her as she wobbled. "But I can't let you be killed over something that is not your fault."

"My parents?" Sakura asked before shaking her head.

"They won't be able to stop it. Your only chance I can see is to run. I wouldn't be surprised if certain members on the council tried to pin these deaths on you too." Kakashi stated indicating the dead ANBU's.

Sakura looked frightened for a moment before her face hardened and she pushed away from Kakashi. "Sorry Kakashi…sensei but I can't let you do that for us."

"What are you…" Kakashi began to say when he lost all control over his body suddenly and collapsed on the floor. "Sakura! What are you doing?"

"Paralysis pressure point. Don't worry it'll wear off in a few hours. We should be long gone by then and you can make a story up. Bye." Sakura stated before she vanished in front of his eye.

"Wait!" Kakashi shouted but knew she was long gone. "Damn."

Kakashi stared up at the ceiling tiles and pondered how he was going to pass the time and what was she going to do.

x X x

Naruto paced the length of the room he was holed up in for what must have been the hundredth time. He was full of nervous energy as he waited for word on Sakura and if she was alright.

The night after he and Kyuubi had saved Sakura had been one of his worst ever. The old man Hokage had seriously been angry with him even though he had saved Sakura. Naruto had learned many new words for calling someone an idiot.

His stomach growled from lack of food. He had been given something to eat that morning but it was know way past noon and he was hungry. The two guards in the room had refused to let him have food and even followed him to the bathroom. That was embarrassing.

As they stood watching him like a pair of hawks the room to the door opened and Naruto looked over in hope that this would be food. Strangely no body appeared in the open doorway and the guards both drew their weapons. One approached the doorway slowly and careful looked around the corner.

The guard next to Naruto suddenly collapsed making Naruto jump and gasp. This drew the attention of the guard checking the corridor out. He turned around stared in shock at the unconscious guard.

"What did you do?" the guard asked threateningly waving his weapon slightly towards Naruto.

"Nothing! I swear!" Naruto shouted in fear. As Naruto watched the guard stiffened and collapsed as well face first onto the ground. Naruto blinked in surprise as Sakura suddenly faded into view standing over the fallen guard.

"Naruto we're getting out of here." Sakura stated with a frown as she took the guard's weapons and loaded them into her weapon pouch.

"Sakura-chan? Why'd you do that?" Naruto asked jumping over to the girl.

"Kakashi told me they're going to kill us because of the damned fox." Sakura spat.

"Wha? But why?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Because they're idiots. We've got to run away before they realise we're gone." Sakura told the boy grabbing his hand causing him to blush but she ignored it. Dragging Naruto out the room the two stopped in their tracks.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Jiraiya asked leaning casually against the wall eyes closed and appearing very serious.

"Don't try and stop us. I know what you're planning to do!" Sakura growled in annoyance and surprise at being caught so easily.

Jiraiya stepped away from the wall and crossed his arms over his chest a large goofy grin appearing on his face.

"Let me finish pervert-chan. I meant where do you two think you are going without me?"

**Chapter 12 – The Truth**

The various vibrant green and brown hues of the forest passed by in a blur as Jiraiya led Sakura and Naruto away from Konoha leaping from tree to tree as fast as they could. Jiraiya was setting a fast pace to try and place as much distance between themselves and any pursuit from Konoha. He silently hoped Sarutobi would be able to delay the Hunter-nin team that would certainly be sent after the two fleeing gennins for at least a day or so. They needed as much of a head start as possible so that he would be able to hide the two kids well enough to throw any pursuit off of their trail.

"They got another one." Naruto announced in mid leap with a grimace as he informed Jiraiya of the destruction of another bunshin.

'Already down to only seventeen? Damn we might not put the distance between us today I hoped.' Jiraiya thought to himself worriedly. The plan had sounded good back in Konoha when Naruto had come up with it surprising Jiraiya with his cunning. Sakura or was she Ranma at the moment? Jiraiya was not sure was able to hide herself easily. Even well enough to hide from Jiraiya himself. That was some achievement Jiraiya had thought as her form of sneaking around was as good if not superior to his own technique he had developed for 'information gathering'. He meant to ask her what she called it and how she did the technique but at the moment they did not have time for chatter.

Naruto however was another matter entirely as he knew no technique to conceal himself in a similar way. He would easily be spotted as his bright coloured jumpsuit was distinctive and they did not have time to teach him their hiding techniques and trying to reason with him to change clothes was a non-starter. He would not part with his orange suit despite Jiraiya's best arguments and instead had stated "Why not let them see me?" and proceeded to create five bunshins.

Jiraiya glanced over his shoulder at Naruto who was still keeping pace easily and smiled in amazement at his stamina. Even though he knew Naruto had access to the nine-tails' chakra it was still amazing to see someone barely a fifth of his age able to produce a hundred shadow clones so easily. Naruto had sent his clones off to do what he did best, pranks and annoying people. Jiraiya could only imagine the commotion the boy was causing for Konoha right now. He wished he could see the faces of the council after Naruto's latest prank rampage.

Using the hundred clones as a diversion to escape without notice while the village went into an uproar as the Naruto shadow clones went on a prank rampage was brilliant and so Narutoish that no one would expect they were escaping.

Naruto was keeping up fine…however a glance further back showed Sakura was not doing anywhere near as well. The girl's face was flushed and Jiraiya could tell she was breathing hard. The pink-haired girl was obviously forcing herself to keep pace with them through sheer willpower alone causing Jiraiya to frown at the implications. If she was this tired now only a few hours out then they would be forced to stop soon to rest and that was not good when you were trying to outrun pursuing hunter-nin, elite teams sent to eradicate ninja who defected from their village.

"Sakura will you be okay?" Jiraiya asked instead of calling a halt to their sprint as he knew from the few days he had observed her she was very prideful in her abilities. She might not respond positively to him pointing out her lack of stamina and he needed her trust.

Sakura nodded in an attempt at hiding her discomfort. She did not trust herself to be able to talk while she struggled to keep her charka flowing to help overcome her body's limitations. The dash through the tree branches should have been easy. She could remember doing far more gruelling runs before…wait. Shaking her head she frowned as she realised that was Ranma's memories not her own. But then again, she knew they were hers as well and it was getting confusing which were whose memories. Since waking she had been forced to concentrate non-stop to prevent the trickle of memories that popped into her head from becoming a raging torrent and holding back the flow was giving her a headache. The pounding of her heart and the burning in her lungs was not helping matters either.

Sakura was to be honest afraid of the memories and what they would do to her. Deep down she knew they belonged to her but what would happen to her if she let them in? Would she vanish completely and leave behind Ranma? She knew she had already changed inside her head as she had already gained Ranma's knowledge of ki and some techniques. Memories of places Ranma had visited, some of which seemed so far-fetched to Sakura. Buildings so tall you could not see the top, villages…no cities so big and so full of people crammed together that they made Konoha look like a spec of dust in comparison. A girl with short black hair that when it caught the sunlight would shine with blue highlights. A girl who had the cutest smile. A girl who was dead.

The image of the girl lying in his arms blood everywhere slammed in Sakura's head catching her completely by surprise and causing her miss the branch she had been aiming for. Sakura clutched her head as a bubble of anguish welled up inside her threatening to send her into an uncontrollable wail of sorrow as she fell.

Jiraiya had seen the pink-haired girl was going to miss the next branch when she froze up in mid jump and immediately turned and bounced off the tree nearest him sending him on a direct course to intercept her descent. Jiraiya easily caught the girl and dropped down to the ground with a light thud, followed closely by Naruto.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed rushing over while Jiraiya gently lowered the shaking Sakura to the ground. The pink-haired girl was alternating between sobbing and gulping for breath which was causing black and white speckles to flash in front of her eyes from lack of oxygen.

With a quick poke to Sakura's neck and shoulder area Jiraiya was pleased to note she regained control over her emotional state and focused her attention on breathing.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" Naruto asked concerned and getting in her face only to have Jiraiya pull him away from the gasping girl by his jumpsuit's collar.

"She's fine." Jiraiya stated and at Naruto's betrayed and confused look he continued. "Sakura just needs room to catch her breath."

"Oh." Naruto stated as his anger at Jiraiya yanking him away faded.

Sakura found herself grateful to the pervert as whatever pressure points he had used on her had made her feelings of anguish fade down to manageable levels allowing her to focus on breathing. There was no way she wanted to pass out and appear weak. Her thoughts returned to the girl who had lain dead in his arms. Sakura struggled for the girl's name and it came to her almost too willingly. Akane Tendo.

They had been close…a friend? No she was…had been Ranma's fiancée. His uncute fiancée that he would have eventually married. 'Wait a minute!' Sakura thought to herself in shock as her eyes widened. 'His? Ranma was…I was…had been a…a guy!'

Sakura felt a myriad of emotions well up at the revelation that Ranma had been a boy. Surprise, disgust, curiosity, fear and wonderment all blended together into a cocktail of weirded out. How could she have been a boy? Everyone always complimented how she was such a nice girl. She did all the girl things that others her age had done. She had had a rivalry with Ino over who would get Sasuke even, although said boy had destroyed that dream when he insulted and attacked her after the preliminaries.

At the back of her mind a faint scratching and a chuckle arose and Sakura instantly knew it was the fox. The bastard was the cause of all this! He knew what she had once been and obviously had something to do with why she was still here, still alive long after everyone else had long since turned to dust. He must have been the reason why she was a girl now. It would be just the kind of thing that the fox would do to annoy Ranma.

The chuckling got louder and Sakura growled angrily to herself and sent a hateful glare towards Naruto causing the boy to back off in shock and Jiraiya to stare in wonder. With a mental effort she clamped down on the link to the fox and was relieved to note the chuckling disappeared, although the faint scratching at the back of her mind continued.

Sakura finally realised Naruto was looking worried and a little scared as she continued to glare at the blond boy. With a feeling of guilt at upsetting Naruto and a sigh Sakura spoke between deep breaths. "Sorry Naruto. I'm not angry with you. I'm mad at that damned fox."

"Oh. Okay." Naruto mumbled clearly shaken by the hateful glare. Naruto was used to ignoring glares but the look of complete fury that crossed Sakura's face had shaken him to the core. Sakura and Ranma had seemed to not care that he had a demon inside him but now she suddenly seemed to hate the fox for some reason. Naruto was still confused as to why they had to flee their home. Why did they want to kill them?

He knew why people seemed to hate him after Mizuki had tricked him into stealing a scroll of forbidden techniques and told him that he was the demon fox. Fortunately Iruka had been there and his words had reassured Naruto that he was not the demon. Iruka had explained to Naruto that people hated the demon and only thought of it when they looked at him, not really seeing Naruto as a lonely child who just wanted someone to acknowledge him. Would Sakura now start to hate him because of the fox as well, just like the villagers? That thought put Naruto into an uncharacteristic depression.

"Sakura, if you've caught your breath we need to keep moving." Jiraiya spoke up sensing the sudden tension and feeling time marching on. "The longer we wait the more likely we are of being caught."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed and stood up. Or she attempted to stand but she found that getting to her feet was a massive struggle. Gritting her teeth she forced herself to stand and then wobbled wildly and it was only with Jiraiya grabbing her arm to steady her she did not fall. Her legs did not want to respond and even pumping her chakra into them was not helping much. Sakura felt inside herself and found her chakra reserves were almost depleted after using them constantly for the last hour to keep up with Jiraiya and Naruto. Not for the last time did she curse her lack of endurance.

"Are you okay?" Jiraiya asked concern showing on his face. One for Sakura's health and another for the fact they were wasting time.

"I'm fine." Sakura growled and pulled her arm free only to find her legs started to buckle beneath herself. Jiraiya once again caught her and frowned.

"No you aren't." Jiraiya stated matter-of-factly and with a probe of the girl he found her chakra levels dangerously low. She had been running herself ragged just keeping up he realised and if she kept this up she might run out of chakra completely and die. That was a constant danger when using chakra, if you used too much at best you would be lain up in bed for days and at worst you could kill yourself.

"Damn it girl! Are you trying to kill yourself? You're suffering from chakra depletion!" Jiraiya half shouted half sighed in irritation. "Why did you not tell me? We could have slowed down a little."

Sakura glared up at Jiraiya. "I'm not a weak little…" Sakura trailed off as she realised what she was going to say. 'I'm not a weak little girl' That was one of Ranma's father's favourite insults to spur his son on, calling Ranma a weak little girl and Sakura found herself conflicted. She was feeling Ranma's resentment of being considered weak and her own feelings and pride at being a girl. 'How could I think of saying that?'

Jiraiya took Sakura's sudden silence as an opening and lifted her onto his back giving her a piggy-back.

"Whaddya doing!" Sakura burst out her speech slipping into a more Ranma style of talking.

"What does it look like? I'm going to carry you." Jiraiya stated as the girl tried to struggle off but Sakura found herself lacking the energy to succeed. "You better stop using your chakra unless you want to pass out." Jiraiya informed her causing Sakura to grow quiet and stop moving about.

"If you try anything I'll make ya regret it." Sakura threatened as she finally released the chakra she was holding and leaned her head onto Jiraiya's back in exhaustion. 'His hair's quite soft. I thought it would be hard and spiky.' Sakura noted in surprise.

"Don't worry pervert-chan. I told you before that you're too young yet." Jiraiya stated with a friendly grin. Turning his attention to Naruto Jiraiya saw the boy was getting depressed.

"Hey Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted causing Naruto to jump in shock.

"Wha?" Naruto stuttered.

"Make another bunshin and send it ahead. You're going to have to be look out as I'll be concentrating on not dropping Sakura. I'll be relying on you for early warning of any danger." Jiraiya lied as a way to snap the boy out from whatever funk he had fallen into.

"Right!" Naruto grinned as his depression was flushed away when Jiraiya told him he was needed and with a short time to focus another bunshin popped into existence. The Naruto copy nodded at Jiraiya before bounding off ahead.

"Lets get moving then!" Jiraiya stated with a grin before leaping into the trees followed closely by Naruto.

x X x

Back in Konoha Naruto-bunshin number eleven was sprinting down a narrow street chased by an angry mob of villagers most of whom were covered in various pastel coloured paints from his latest distraction and screaming for the demon to be destroyed. Water balloons, paint and ninja throwing techniques made for quite a distraction as he pelted various shops and people in the street with paint bombs. Naruto was not normally the vengeful type but he was enjoying this. The bunshins had been specifically targeting people who had insulted him before or worse to be on the receiving end of the distractions.

"Nah nah!" Naruto-bunshin taunted giving the pursuing mob a view of his lower eyelid before leaping onto the rooftops leaving the normal villagers behind in the street. Once on the roofs he grinned in triumph and start plotting his next move.

Glancing across the village Naruto-bunshin had to chuckle proudly at the sight on the Hokage monument covered in paint. Unlike last time he had painted the monument with various random doodles this time twenty-five bunshins had sacrificed themselves to achieve his ultimate work of art.

The stone face of the First was painted as a Kabuki performer. The Second's was painted to look like a bright orange tiger. The Third's had been painted to resemble a geisha leaving Sarutobi's face resembling a transvestite who had no idea how much makeup to use and had caked it on instead. The Fourth's face had been painted to look like an unhappy clown and the Naruto's had been unsure whether the internal chuckling had been there own or Kyuubi's.

As the Naruto-bunshin passed by the Hokage's tower he smirked at the sight of it being covered from top to bottom in toilet rolls. The entire village's stock of toilet rolls must have been used to pull that prank off.

"Yikes!" Naruto-bunshin yelped as he dodged a volley of kunai sent his way by an angry looking male chunnin who Naruto-bunshin did not recognise.

"Die demon-brat!" the chunnin shouted throwing more kunai forcing Naruto-bunshin to dodge and twist out of the way. This gave the chunnin enough time to close in on the blond boy with a kunai ready to thrust into Naruto-bunshin's skull.

Naruto-bunshin knew he could not dodge in time and closed his eyes accepting his fate. A yelp and a thud caused Naruto-bunshin to open one eye in wariness and was shocked to find Sasuke standing over the fallen chunnin who was out cold.

"Sasuke?" Naruto-bunshin asked stunned opening both eyes fully.

"C'mon." Sasuke said grabbing Naruto-bunshin's forearm and dragging the boy towards the roof's edge. "Move it idiot before more spot you."

The pair dropped into the street and sprinted into a nearby alley and ran down the twisting narrow passage between buildings until Sasuke was happy with how hidden they were. Grabbing Naruto-bunshin by the shoulders Sasuke pushed him back against a wall.

"What are you doi…mumpth!" Naruto-bunshin shrieked and was cut off by Sasuke clamping his hand over Naruto-bunshin's mouth.

"Quiet moron!" Sasuke hissed. "Do you want to be caught?"

"It doesn't matter Sasuke-bastard! I'm a shadow clone." Naruto-bunshin growled yanking Sasuke's hand away and glaring.

"What? Then where's the real you at?" Sasuke frowned at that news.

Naruto-bunshin frowned at Sasuke as he thought over the situation. Jiraiya had told him not to tell anyone where they were heading, but Sasuke was on their team even if he was a bastard sometimes.

"Look…Naruto I know about the fox." Sasuke stated growing impatient at the bunshin's lack of cooperation.

"You do?" Naruto-bunshin asked in surprise. "How?"

"It was pretty easy when your aura was shaped like a fox." Sasuke lied wanting Naruto to believe he had figured it out himself.

"Oh." The Naruto-bunshin replied looking convinced.

"Tell me where you're going and I'll meet you there." Sasuke stated. As he wanted to find out how the demon was sealed inside Naruto his best chance of finding that out was to stay with the boy.

"I don't know. Jiraiya said not to tell anyone." Naruto-bunshin told Sasuke slowly.

'Jiraiya? So the old guy's with them?' Sasuke thought in surprise and his mind drifted back to outside the baths when Jiraiya had shown them water walking. Sasuke remembered the toad sennin striking Naruto in the stomach after the boy kept falling into the hot water and it clicked. 'Jiraiya must know how the seal thing works. He did something to it to allow Naruto to gain control over his charka. If he knows how to seal demons maybe I can learn the trick to. Maybe you can transfer them. I have to find them.'

"C'mon Naruto we're team-mates." Sasuke pleaded surprising the bunshin. Naruto had never heard Sasuke plead before and with a grin the bunshin told him.

"We're heading to Tanzaku-gai to find someone who will help us." Naruto-bunshin said pleased.

Sasuke grinned in triumph. 'Yes! He may be a demon-vessel but he's still an idiot.'

"Great Naruto." Sasuke said slapping the boy in a friendly way on the shoulder. "I'll meet you there. Don't tell them I'm following though. I want to surprise them."

"Right!" Naruto-bunshin agreed before the two felt the approach of more people.

"Crap!" Sasuke exclaimed. "If I'm spotted with you it'll screw everything up."

Naruto-bunshin's mind went twenty to the dozen as he tried to come up with a way to hide. An evil grin appeared on the shadow clone's face.

"Sexy-no-jutsu!" Naruto-bunshin announced and with a puff of smoke changed into a cute blond girl with twin pigtails and wearing an extremely short dress.

"Wha?" Sasuke exclaimed as the disguised clone grabbed and pushed him against the opposite wall while wrapped her arms around the stunned boy's neck and kissed him causing Sasuke's eyes to bulge out in shock.

A small group of paint splattered villagers ran past. A couple stopped to stare at what looked like a cute couple of kids making out before continuing on with their demon-fox hunt. Naruto-bunshin held Sasuke tightly hiding the boy's face which was going red in anger, shock and embarrassment until the villagers had vanished before letting him go. Sasuke immediately began making gagging and retching noises.

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad." Naruto-bunshin said wiping her lips with the back of her hand and spitting. "Errg! Actually, yeah it was."

x X x

Sakura held on to Jiraiya lightly as they sped through the forested area deep in thought. Remembering being Ranma and a boy had unsettled her deeply and yet she also felt that was her true form. These conflicting feelings had her internally debating whether she should try and remember more or try to prevent anything else slipping in.

The horror and sorrow at Akane's death still lingered in her head leaving her scared of absorbing anymore memories. What other terrible things had happened to Ranma…to him…to her in the past?

In the end she decided she needed to know more about the fox to try and figure out what was actually going on. To do that she would need Ranma's memories and no matter how much it scared her she had to at least remember enough to find out why Kyuubi was interested in her or him.

With her course decided she slightly loosened her mental grip on the memories with a hope that they would start from the beginning and not overwhelm her. Seemingly this worked as the first memories began flowing were of being a child.

She saw Ranma's life like a movie played fast. She remembered being taken away by his father, a large framed man with glasses who only ever seemed to wear a training gi and a bandana over his head to hide his growing baldness at the age of six to begin a ten year training voyage. Meeting with his first real friend Ucchan and playing together before leaving him behind.

When Sakura remembered the cat-fist training she felt her stomach churn with remembered terror of being subjected to that torture by her father who foolishly thought the training would leave Ranma with an unbeatable technique. The fear became stronger and Sakura felt something at the back of her mind flex and with the knowledge of the effects of the cat fist and knowing going 'cat' again would not be good she manage to have the presence of mind to stop the memories and concentrate of pushing the 'cat' to the back of her mind again.

"Are you okay?" Jiraiya's voice interrupted Sakura's mental battle and luckily it also snapped her out of her fear.

"Y…yeah." Sakura stuttered.

"You sure?" Jiraiya asked. When he had felt Sakura stiffen and start trembling and felt her aura begin to grow he feared the worst.

"I'm fine!" Sakura snapped.

"Okay, okay." Jiraiya stated attempting to mollify the girl. Sakura seemed to have herself back under control but Jiraiya was now on high alert with the girl. He had no intention of being caught unawares if she became possessed again as he could imagine what those claws would do to his back.

When Jiraiya turned his attention back to leaping Sakura restarted the memory flow, this time slightly slower in case any more bad memories trigger the 'cat'.

The next memories where just of training and going between towns and villages only stopping when there was a good place to train. Learning every possible style of hand-to-hand combat from each place they visited.

Then memories of going to an all boy's school and fighting each day for the best or last pieces of bread. Gaining his first rival in a Ryoga Hibiki. An immensely strong boy who could get lost in a room with only one door. Sakura remembered that Ryoga had challenged Ranma to a fight over some bread but he had been dragged away by his father after Ryoga did not show up for the challenge after three days.

Then there was the swimming across the ocean to a land called China where the training continued and finally finished with becoming cursed at Jusenkyo to turn into a girl.

'Wait a minute!' Sakura thought to herself in shock as the memories of becoming a redheaded girl and the shock at the transformation entered her head. 'I got turned into a girl at sixteen?'

Becoming very curious she quickly absorbed the next set of memories. 'So I got cursed to turn into a girl when I came into contact with cold water. Hot water would return me to being a boy.'

Sakura became more confused than ever. How was that possible? A sudden thought entered her head. 'I wonder if Jusenkyo still exists? If it does maybe I could get my body back…but do I want to?'

"Hey perv can I ask you something?" Sakura asked Jiraiya prompting the toad sennin to glance back at her.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked wondering what Sakura wanted.

"You're old and have gotten around right?"

"You don't need to make it sound quite like that." Jiraiya mumbled as his lower left eyelid developed a twitch.

"Ever heard of a place called Jusenkyo?" Sakura asked.

"Jusenkyo?" Jiraiya rolled the unfamiliar word around his mouth but it did not mean anything to him. "No. What's this Jusenkyo?"

'Damn.' Sakura frowned before speaking to the toad sennin again. "It's a training ground. Lots of pools of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them, very bad if you fall in one."

Jiraiya pondered this information before asking the girl another question. "I've seen training grounds like that before. What's special about that one?"

"Did any of them have…" Sakura paused looking for the right word. She did not want to say curses in case Jiraiya took it badly. "Umm weird effects if you fell in?"

"Effects? Is this something to do with Ranma?" Jiraiya questioned.

"Yeah, sorta." Sakura mumbled softly.

"Can't say so, unless you count getting wet an effect."

"Oh." Sakura stated solemnly. "Do you know of a land called China or Japan?"

"China? Japan? Never heard of lands called those names before." Jiraiya replied. "I guess you're remembering things Ranma?"

"I'm not Ranma. I mean I am Ranma but not now. I'm Sakura kinda." Sakura stumbled over her words not making much sense to Jiraiya who frowned as he figured out what had happened to the girl. It seemed both personalities had merged and she was remembering things now.

"I think I understand." Jiraiya said. "Should I call you Sakura or Ranma?"

"I…don't know anymore." The girl whispered as she felt her spirits droop at becoming unsure of who she was. Her Sakura side had a strong personality but her Ranma side did too and already had more memories leaving her confused as who she should be and this was only after gaining the first sixteen years of Ranma's life experiences. Sakura suddenly felt really weird as she counted the combined years of life together and realised she could say she was twenty-eight years old now. The pressure in her head was still feeling large so she reasoned she still had many memories of the years of Ranma's life to absorb still. Just how old would that make her mentally when she finished?

"Well I can always resort to pervert-chan then." Jiraiya joked to lighten the atmosphere.

"Don't joke about that!" Sakura growled thinking back to bathing with other girls. If Jiraiya found that out that she used to be a boy, well a part time boy he would really have a field day with it.

"Hey. Do you want to break for a rest? I think we've made decent time so far and should be able to take a quick break. Grab something to eat and maybe you can tell us about Ranma." Jiraiya suggested. "I'm interested in finding out the cause of all this weirdness."

Sakura frowned at the suggestion and began thinking over the pro's and con's. It would probably help to talk about things with Jiraiya but on the other hand it might change his opinion of her if the rest of Ranma's memories turned out bad. For all she knew Ranma might have turned into a psychopath after the memories she had absorbed so far.

"Maybe. But I haven't finished sorting through em all yet." Sakura stated hoping to delay the inevitable inquisition for a little while.

"Okay then." Jiraiya told her sincerely. "Take your time and let me know once you're ready. Remember I want to help you."

"Thanks." Sakura said and actually meant it. Jiraiya did seem to really want to help her and was not pushing her too hard to tell him even though he must be itching to find out about Ranma.

x X x

Sarutobi stood on one of the balconies of the Hokage's tower and stared out over the village as the sun slowly set. The village had finally quietened down for the night as what seemed to be the last Naruto shadow clone was dealt with.

Sarutobi could not help but grin in amazement at the shear chaos Naruto had caused that day. Painting the moment again. Leaving the village's entire supply of toilet rolls strewn over the tower and who know how much other stuff. The paperwork after this for the cleanup would be horrendous but at least his conscious was clean.

Taking a deep breath of his pipe he began thinking of what was to come for the two children as they would have to be declared missing-nin. Even though he did not want to the law was very clear on what would happen and he had to obey it even if he could delay it for a few days.

Homura walked up to stand by Sarutobi and the two former team-mates stood in silence for a few minutes.

"You do know you have to declare them missing-nin and have them hunted down." Homura spoke breaking the silence.

"Yes." Sarutobi sighed exhaling a small cloud of smoke which drifted away. The pair once again settled into an uneasy silence.

"You don't agree with this though." Homura stated matter-of-factly.

"No I don't. But the people will be calling for blood now after today's antics." Sarutobi gestured out at the village and glanced up towards the Hokage monument. He grimaced at the sight of his younger face painted in the outlandish way and wished Naruto had left that one clear. He could already imagine people would be whispering about that for weeks to come.

"Then you will be announcing it tomorrow?"

"No. We will first proceed to check the village to make sure they are not still hiding here." Sarutobi informed Homura with a slight smirk. "Leave no stone unturned."

"Very well." Homura stated knowing full well that Sarutobi was stalling giving the pair time to get further away but did not say anything. "I have a slightly disturbing piece of news though you may want to hear."

Sarutobi frowned. More bad news was just what he did not need right now. "What is it?"

"No one can find Sasuke Uchiha anywhere in the village as well." Homura stated seriously while adjusting his glasses. "I think he's gone with them."

"Damn." Sarutobi frowned at the news. If Sasuke had gone with them then would he have to sentence a third child to the same fate? "Do you think he went with them or followed?"

"I believe he's followed them. We will need to send a team to bring him back as he is the only remaining Uchiha in Konoha and as such a valuable asset and a target for ransom if he was to be captured."

"Has Kakashi been released yet?" Sarutobi asked with a frown.

"Not yet. His story seems to check out but as they were his team he is still under suspicion of aiding them escape."

"When he is I wish to speak with him right away." Sarutobi told Homura before turning and walking away. Homura watched the retreating form of his friend and sighed.

'Perhaps I should tell him he's trailing toilet paper on his feet.'

**Chapter 13 – A Small Glimpse of The Past**

Sakura grinned as he sat down at the table and waited for the food. The morning sparing had gone well, easily beating his father and dumping the old panda in the pond. His mother had commented on how manly her son was and everyone seemed happy. Something was off though and Sakura was unsure what, just a nagging feeling of wrongness.

He glanced around the table trying to discover what was wrong. There was Mr. Tendo, face completely hidden behind his paper leaving only his hands visible. Nabiki Tendo, the middle sister was sitting acting bored as she sipped on a coffee. Kasumi Tendo the oldest sister sat talking with his mother about various recipes.

Wait a minute. Kasumi was sitting at the table talking with his mother? Then that meant Akane was cooking! Sakura felt a chill run through him as he felt the approaching horror and found himself powerless to stop it. He tried to stand but his body was not responding. Everyone else at the table continued with what they were doing, oblivious to the danger approaching.

The room darkened as Akane bounded in cheerfully carrying a huge pot covered in various caked on fluids and other stuff that could not be called food. The smiling girl plonked the pot down in the centre of the table causing the carefully lain out mats and bowls to be strewn across the floor. With a beaming smile the girl gripped the handle of the pot's lid with a cooking glove covered hand.

Sakura glanced around in panic and tried talking but no words came out as he desperately tried to stop the girl. The moment Akane lifted the lid it was flung away as ethereal creatures of various colours, shapes and sizes burst out and zipped around the room at random.

Sakura was frozen as he watched the monsters attack his family and the Tendos. Kasumi was dragged away by one of the monsters. Nabiki's head vanished as another one passed by her. Sakura watched as Ranma's mother vanished into a red mist as another one of the monsters ripped through her.

Suddenly finding he was able to move Sakura dived at Akane screaming silently for the girl to run. Just as his arms closed around the girl a clawed hand swiped itself across Akane's stomach almost shredding the girl in two and sending Sakura crashing to the floor holding Akane's torn torso to his chest.

Sakura stared down at the now dead girl and wailed as Akane's unseeing eyes looked up at him accusingly as if asking 'why did you not save me?'

As a massive wind sprang up around him the roof was lifted away revealing the sky covered in swirling clouds and lightening and Sakura could hear the screams as the monsters spread out over the entire world massacring anything in their way.

Sakura stared up at the swirling clouds and his eyes went wide as the missiles came down with a shrieking noise bringing their payload of death.

"Nooo you idiots! They can't be killed that way!" Sakura found himself screaming as the bombs hit the ground and exploded in an eye searing flash of light. As the shock waves spread out from the centre Sakura watched the dojo and the bodies inside get shattered and blown away.

Akane's body turned grey and crumbled into dust that ran through his fingers as the shock wave passed through him silently and Sakura found his body melted away to leave her own standing in the centre of a desert made from the dust.

As she watched the mushroom cloud changed shape as the familiar face of the demon fox appeared grinning evilly.

"Damn you, you fox bastard!" Sakura screamed at the grinning apparition. "Why did you not let me die?"

Her question was unanswered as the fox formed a massive clawed hand which reached out towards her and Sakura found herself unable to move again as the shadow of the hand descended upon her.

"Hey wake up." Sakura heard a voice and she reacted instantly grabbing a kunai form her pouch and lashed out at the shadowy figure above her.

A shriek of shock brought Sakura to her senses and she found herself holding her kunai millimetres away from the throat of an older lady. The woman appeared to be somewhere in her late fifties and had a kind face and greying brown hair held in a bun and was wearing a green coloured traditional kimono.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologised as she carefully removed her weapon from the woman's throat and placed it back in its holster.

"My, that was a close one." The woman stated while she held one hand to her chest and took a couple of calming breaths. "That's the last time I try and wake a kuniochi having a nightmare."

"Sorry." Sakura apologised again bowing her head slightly as the terror from the dream finally faded away.

"That quite alright young lady." The woman stated with a smile missing Sakura's slight flinch at those words. "No harm done."

Sakura raised her head and glanced around the room as she realised she had no idea where she was. She found that she was in a smallish room sitting on a sleeping roll. There was a plant in one corner and two doors. A couple of nice paintings of a castle sat on one wall. At the back of the room was a rectangular shaped window with wooden blinds that were mostly closed, letting only a couple of slits of light into the room.

"Um, where am I?" Sakura asked confused. "And who are you?"

"I'm the proprietor of The Sleepy Dragon Inn in Tanzaku-gai." The woman beamed in pride. "My name's Obana Riko."

"Sakura…Saotome. Pleased ta meetcha." Sakura answered hesitantly to Obana's unspoken question not wanting to give her birth name away as it would make her easier to track. "Do you know where the per…old guy is?"

Obana frowned slightly at Sakura's strange way of talking. One sentence was spoken roughly and then the girl switched tones and spoke in the proper manner for a girl her age.

"Ah, yes…him." Obana said and Sakura could hear her dislike of Jiraiya instantly. "He left early this morning with the blond boy in the hideously orange suit."

"Naruto." Sakura chuckled at Obana's description of Naruto.

"So you do know them." Obana stated causing Sakura to turn to her questionably. "When they walked in late last night carrying you I was suspicious. You don't often have guests arrive that late and with a young girl unconscious in their arms, and in this day and age you can't be too careful. I would normally turn people away that late but you seemed in such a state I ended up letting you all stay."

"Thank you." Sakura said while thinking. 'When did I fall asleep?'

"It's no trouble dear. Although I had to put my foot down as that man was only going to pay for one room and I could not let you sleep with them even if you are engaged to the boy. It's not proper."

"Oh." Sakura stated them blinked. "Engaged?"

"Hmm? Something wrong?" Obana asked suspiciously.

"Wha? Oh no. No. Everything's fine." Sakura reassured Obana waving her hands while silently thinking to herself. 'I'm gonna kill that pervert.'

"If you say so dear." Obana told Sakura as the older lady climbed to her feet. "I'd came to wake you as it's just past noon and I had made enough food for the three of you. But seeing as the men aren't here some of it's going to go to waste."

"Oh I don't know about that." Sakura grinned as her stomach voiced its opinion rumbling away surprising Obana who blinked.

"Erm…okay then. There's a washbasin in the on-suite if you need to freshen up and the food's downstairs once you're ready." Obana stated as she left the room.

Once Obana was gone Sakura got up and entered the small on-suite and used the toilet. While washing her hands she let her mind wander over Ranma's memories again and mused over something's she had always taken for granted.

Like the toilets. Here they were of western design not the Japanese ones Ranma was used to. In fact most of the culture and buildings where a strange mixture of mainly Japanese but with some Chinese and quite a bit of western culture and design thrown in.

Sakura thought back through Ranma's memories to just after the demons had appeared. The world had gone into panic at the monster's arrival. She remembered living on the American warship that had taken as many refugees from the demon's attacks and the last ditch attempt at stopping them, when the remaining governments had unleashed their arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Sakura felt tears threatening to start at the loss of life and the fact that the bombs had done nothing to the demons as even if their bodies where destroyed their essences would just reform and make a new one. The demons could only be destroyed with spiritual attacks, being banished back to the plane they had came from or fulfilling the terms of their summons.

"It's my fault." Sakura whispered as guilt rose inside her. "If I hadn't fought back…if I hadn't survived the first one…"

Sakura slapped her hands down on the sink and glared at her reflection. Her familiar yet unfamiliar twelve year old face stared back at her angrily. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself idiot!" Sakura growled at herself. "It wasn't you who summoned the demons. And the fact people still exist and are prospering goes to prove you saved as many as you could!"

Sakura took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. "The bastard fox is still around so the terms of his summons have not been met, obviously cause I'm still alive. There's probably a couple more of them still floating around…" Sakura thought back to the stories of the Bijuu that they had been told as children. There were nine of them. "No there's nine of them left, with the fox being the strongest now. So the rift must have been sealed as we hoped. No more came through."

Sakura straightened back up and stared at her reflection a determined expression on her face. No matter how much stronger the remaining demons had gotten during his absence she would destroy them once and for all.

"You better start running cause the wild horse is coming." Sakura growled flexing her right hand and produced three foot long sets of claws made up of pure ki.

x X x

After Sakura had devoured three dinners much to the shock of Obana she had returned to her room and found Jiraiya had actually left her a note and a small pouch filled with various coinage.

"Dear pervert-chan, if you wake up I'm taking Naruto to a quiet area so he can start training while I do some information gathering. You should be fine to explore the city for today as we've made good time and word travels slowly in these parts. There's a bit of money for you to get supplies and a change of clothes as we need to hide. I'm still working on Naruto to dump that orange thing. P.S. don't molest any boys okay "

Sakura grimaced and scrunched up the note and with a small burst of ki destroyed the piece of paper. 'Molest boys! The jerk. I'm sooo gonna hurt him.'

Soon Sakura had found her way to the market district and began hunting for a change of clothing. In spite of Ranma's memories of hating shopping she found herself enjoying examining the various styles that were around in this time. Soon she found a Chinese style sleeveless red top with wooden buttons running down the left-hand side and had a stylised stallion rearing up embroidered into it and grinned at the lucky find. At the same shop she got another set of tight black shorts and various pieces of underwear.

Part of her felt uncomfortable buying and wearing girl's underwear but she ignored it reasoning that she was Sakura now not Ranma and would not change shape at the application of water. She also found herself strangely pleased she was not a large girl in the chest area and yet also envious of her previous girl-form's figure.

Sakura had then went and found a public bath and got a good long soak in the hot waters. This did wonders for her aching muscles from the previous day's exertions. While in the baths she distracted herself from feeling uncomfortable by starting to refill her chakra reserves using the knowledge she had gained from being Ranma.

When Kyuubi had restructured her chakra coils with his energy he had temporary boosted her reserves. Once the energy had been used up though she was now left with large reinforced coils and nothing to fill them with as her body was not producing enough energy yet. So she was using a technique Happosai had taught Ranma during the battle with the demons, how to absorb ki from the surrounding area and other items.

Sakura grimaced as she thought about the ancient pervert's choice of item's to absorb ki from. Girl's underwear. Despite being a _real_ 'super pervert', Happosai did know his stuff about ki and the various methods of absorbing it.

Sakura thought back to the gnome-like perverted martial arts master's teachings on ki absorbing and how the Happo Five-Yen Satsu worked, so named by the fact you used five-yen coin in the technique. By using pressure points to alter a person's ki flows Happosai had created an ability to absorb massive amounts of ki in a very short time. Basically able to absorb somebody's battle aura almost instantly, effectively ending a fight before it even began as the victim would no longer have the energy to fight.

Sakura grinned at what the fox had done. For once she felt that the fox had done something to benefit her by enlarging her ki and chakra capacity tremendously. Probably increasing it to a point where she had the potential to outstrip her previous life's capabilities and had given her a shortcut to Happosai's techniques.

Which she was using at the current time to pull ki from her surroundings and began filling her coils. Sakura frowned though as she found the physical side of chakra was not capable of being filled the same way. It seemed that the physical side was produced by your body only and would mean some of the advanced chakra techniques may be out of her reach forever. Mulling this over Sakura wondered if the Happo Five-Yen Satsu was capable of pulling the physical side too.

Thinking back when she had been Ranma, he had used the technique against the demons to gain an equal footing with them. Back then Kyuubi had not been the powerhouse he was apparently now. Of course he had been powerful compared to normal people and put Saffron to shame, the supposed "God" of the phoenix people Ranma had been forced to slay.

Kyuubi had actually acted as a battery and sparing partner while Ranma grew used to absorbing demon ki as the first time he tried it the results left him sick for days. It was only due to Happosai being there that the demon Ranma had attempted it on had been beaten.

Sakura began thinking of her lessons on chakra and her memories of Ranma's reaction to demon ki and soon decided that she had not absorbed just ki from the demons. That would not have made Ranma sick; no it must have been chakra, something Ranma had had no experience with. There were techniques to absorb chakra from other people and when Sakura had been studying the affects of such technique for a test she had found information on such practitioners becoming sick from over absorbing chakra. That information had helped her score the highest in the class.

Sakura grinned evilly as she began to imagine Jiraiya drained of energy after she got him to help in her training to see if she could absorb chakra. That would teach the pervert.

x X x

"Aaaachooo!" Jiraiya sneezed and rubbed his finger under his nose.

"Somebody must be talking about you." said one of the gamblers he was talking with.

"I'm a popular guy." Jiraiya replied before pulling out the last photograph he had of Tsunade. "You haven't seen this girl around recently?"

The man took the picture while Jiraiya watched his face go from a frown to amusement.

"You're looking for the 'Legendary Sucker'?" the man laughed handing the picture back to Jiraiya. "She ain't been around here for years. Probably staying clear as she owes quiet a pretty penny. She owes you money too?"

"Something like that." Jiraiya mumbled pocketing the photo and turning to leave.

"Hey, you want a game? We got cards and dice." the man asked suddenly grabbing Jiraiya's arm.

"Sure why not." Jiraiya stated as he now knew Tsunade was not here. They would have to set off as soon as Sakura recovered and judging by how zonked the girl had been this morning Jiraiya reckoned that might be a couple of days yet and as he had Naruto practicing popping a water balloon by just swirling the water with chakra he reckoned he had plenty of time to kill.

x X x

After the bath Sakura threw her old clothes away and dressed in the new top she had purchased. She now was determined to do something with her hair as pink was too distinctive and far too girly for her liking suddenly. She blamed that on Ranma as he had never liked pink.

Finding the first hair saloon she could Sakura had asked to have her hair cut shorter and dyed. The hairdresser had been shocked that she would want to cover up such a unique colour once she found out it was natural and had tried to talk her out of it.

In the end Sakura had given in slightly and had her hair cut to shoulder length layers and had left her bangs still pink and the rest dyed black. Hopefully it would be enough to hide her for now combined with her new eye colour and clothes.

x X x

"These stupid little missions are so damn annoying." A large man carrying an even larger sword wrapped in bandages grumbled to his companion. Both where dressed in the same fashion, a long black robe with red clouds and a high collar. Both were also wearing a sugegasa hat that hid their faces. People were giving them a wide berth as the size of the tall one was intimidating.

"Hmm? You know this is all part of the master plan Kisame?" the shorter of the pair spoke his words precisely.

"Of course Itachi." Kisame replied. "It still doesn't stop this from being boring. We've not had a decent battle for a while now."

Itachi agreed with Kisame silently. The mission had been very dull. They had been tasked with getting some guy to pay his debts to one of the gambling houses in the city. They had not even had to resort to violence as at the sight of Kisame the guy had broken down and paid up in full.

"When are we going after the nine-tails brat anyway?" Kisame asked hoping Itachi would say now.

"Unfortunately Konoha is in the middle of preparing for the chunnin exams and it would be a…bother getting in at this time." Itachi replied.

Kisame snorted. "I still think it would be quite easy really."

Itachi looked up at his taller companion. "Kisame, I've no interest in making this any harder than ooof!"

Itachi grunted as somebody had walked right into him.

"Hey watch were you're going brat!" Itachi heard Kisame speak and looked down at whoever had run into him to see a girl with black and pink hair. He immediately spotted the Konoha forehead protector and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Sorry!" the girl apologised. "I wasn't look…ing…" Sakura trailed off as her eyes met Itachi's Sharingan ones and a chill of recognition ran through her. 'Oh crap! No way can this stuff still happen to me! I just happen to bump into a wanted S-rank missing-nin.'

"You weren't looking alright." Kisame growled at her. "Go on get lost before my partner gets mad with you."

"Right! Bye!" Sakura said quickly averting her eyes and leaving the scene as fast as she could without seeming suspicious.

"Stupid kid." Kisame mumbled before noticing Itachi was studying the retreating form of the girl intently. "I've seen that look on your face before and it usually means fun is not far away."

"Kisame." Itachi spoke not removing his Sharingan eyes from the girl. "Did you see what I did?"

"I'm going to say no." Kisame grinned.

"She was wearing a Konoha forehead protector."

"Hmmm? She's young. I'd say only a gennin and that would mean a team of three and at least one Jounin with them. Interesting." Kisame pondered. "Maybe your little brother is on her team."

Itachi grunted in annoyance at Kisame's suggestion.

"I take it…you're wanting to go see which one?" Kisame asked.

"Not really." Itachi replied. "There was something…off about her though."

"Aside from the fact a ninja in training was so unaware of her surroundings she bumps into people?" Kisame joked.

Itachi just gave Kisame the 'look' and started to follow the girl. Kisame grinned manically. 'At last maybe I'll get to have some fun!'

x X x

Sakura moved through the crowed streets while mentally berating herself over letting her guard down. Of course only her luck would have her bumping into a wanted criminal.

She had been so busy absorbing latent ki from the surroundings while trying to use the link to the fox to track Naruto down that she had not paid enough attention to where she was walking.

'Idiot! You've really screwed up there.' Sakura grumbled to herself while extending her senses out. 'Damn, they're following me.' She frowned as she felt the pair's auras following at a distance behind her.

'Well let's just see if you can follow the Umisenken!' Sakura grinned before focusing her recently collected ki and using it to vanish from sight and sense.

x X x

"What the?" Itachi blinked in surprise as he felt the girl's aura vanish completely. Using his senses and the Sharingan he checked about for the girl but she had done the impossible and vanished completely. Most disturbing.

"What's wrong?" Kisame asked wondering what had shocked his partner.

"She just vanished and I can't find her presence anywhere." Itachi replied why looking around.

"You're joking?" Kisame blinked in surprise. Someone was capable of hiding from Itachi? "That's bad. We might have just been set up." Kisame stated gripping his sword handle lightly.

"Be on your guard." Itachi stated as the pair stood in the middle of the street and waited for an attack.

x X x

Sakura grinned in amusement as something finally went right for her. Using her disappearing trick she noted that the pair following were now stood stock still in the middle of the street expecting an attack any minute. So while they stood like dummies she hastily made her way away from them.

She finally seemed to have the tracking of the link figured out and headed quickly toward Naruto.

x X x

After five minutes of standing still in the street and expecting an attack that never came, Kisame finally spoke. "You get the feeling we've been had?"

x X x

"Finally made it." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief at arriving at Tanzaku-gai. After walking through the city gates he groaned as he realised how big this city was.

"Damn Naruto! Why couldn't you tell me where you would be staying as well?"

Thinking of Naruto made Sasuke feel ill again. That kiss in the alleyway was the second time something like that had happened to him and once he stopped gagging he had destroyed the bunshin himself. Although at least this time Naruto had looked like a girl and nobody who knew him saw.

"You had better not mention that to Ranma idiot." Sasuke growled before leaping to the rooftops and looking for the orange clad idiot.

x X x

Naruto's intense concentration was interrupted as he sneezed and almost dropped the water balloon he was practicing on. Jiraiya had shown him the Rasengan again and finally explained to him how it worked.

Then he had explained that there were three stages to learning the attack, with the first being to swirl the water around in the balloon in multiple directions at once so that the balloon would burst. Jiraiya had made it look easy and Naruto had confidently thought that it would be easy. However he was wrong.

So far he had only burst the balloons that he had dropped. It was really hard to get his chakra to move the water in different directions all at once.

"This time!" Naruto exclaimed and began again. The water balloon began to wobble and bulge in the palm of his hand as the water inside was swirled about.

"Whattcha doing Naruto?" Sakura's voice called out shocking the boy.

"Waaa!" Naruto yelped and dropped the water balloon. As it fell the blond boy desperately made grabs for the balloon only the keep missing it as it bounced off his hands before hitting the floor and bursting in his face.

Naruto turned to face a laughing Sakura as he wiped excess water from his face. "Oi! That was not funny!" He blinked in surprise at the change in her appearance.

"Hey what did you do to your hair?"

"This?" Sakura stopped laughing and pointed at her hair. "It's a disguise. Seeing as we're now on the run we need to change our appearances so we can hide easier."

"Oh." Naruto replied examining the girl's shirt. "That's a cool shirt!"

"Yeah it is." Sakura grinned walking over and staring at the remains of a few water balloons. "So what you doing? And where's the perv?"

"I'm learning the Rasengan!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

"Jiraiya's swirly attack?" Sakura asked remembering the pervert showing them the attack outside the baths in Konoha.

"Yup!"

"Cool! New moves! So how's it work?" Sakura asked picking up one of the unburst balloons and holding it in her palm.

"You have to swirl the water inside the balloon in lots of directions at once and make it burst." Naruto told her while picking up a balloon for himself and placing one hand below and one above the balloon. "Jiraiya said this is step one of three."

With an intense look of concentration Naruto began to swirl the water again. The balloon bulged and throbbed but did not burst much to Naruto's disappointment. "Awww man! This is hard."

"Hmmm." Sakura stared at the balloon. 'So if you want to burst it you'd have to make the water spin in at least two direction at once apart from each other and stretch the balloon so it bursts. Seems simple enough.'

Sakura began to gather her chakra like she had watched Naruto do and began swirling the water in one direction. As she got the hang of that she began to increase the speed and was rewarded with the balloon wobbling from left to right.

"That's as far as I've gotten." Naruto stated watching the girl make the balloon wobble.

"Heh, I'm just getting warmed up." Sakura grinned and started with a second spin. This time the balloon began bulging in two directions at once but still it did not actually pop. "Okay then. Two directions at once is not enough. How about three?"

Naruto stared in amazement as the balloon began bulging in a third direction this time more violently.

"Wow." Sakura stated with a smile that said she was now treating this as a challenge. "This is quite hard. Gonna go for another spin."

Adding another flow into the mixture finally began making the balloon start stretching more closely to bursting point.

"Stubborn balloon." Sakura growled as it still refused to pop. "I'm more stubborn tho!" She added another two directions and this time sped all of the flows up as quickly as she could and the balloon finally popped spraying water. "Hah. Gotcha!"

Naruto just stared at the girl slack jawed. She had just completely put him to shame again. Just like with the tree walking exercise Sakura's chakra control was amazing.

"Damn, I'll never get it." Naruto grumbled as Sakura's easy victory over the balloon made Naruto become a little down.

"Here." Sakura stated placing her hand under Naruto's to the boy's surprise. "It's easy. I'll lead you through this one and then you'll know how to do it."

"What?" Naruto asked wondering what she meant.

"Just pay attention to what I do with your chakra. At least I think this will work the same as ki does." Sakura stated. "Okay begin channelling your chakra into your hand. Don't try and swirl the water I'll do that. You just keep using chakra and feeling what I do with it."

"Um okay." Naruto stated no quite sure what she was going to do but as Sakura instructed he began summoning his chakra into his palm. Suddenly he felt his chakra move by itself and this almost broke his concentration.

"Don't stop." Sakura stated calming the boy and Naruto stared in wonder as the balloon began rocking again. "Now it's spinning right? Time to add a second flow kay."

Naruto blinked as the water balloon now wobbled in two directions just like the time Sakura had done it. "Wow!"

"Good. Now we'll keep adding flows until it's really bouncing, then we up the power." Sakura told Naruto and as she spoke more flows entered the balloon. "Control first. Power second."

Naruto stared intently as the balloon was now bulging rapidly in various directions.

"Now Naruto I want you to increase the amount of chakra you're using quickly." Sakura's voice was almost hypnotic as Naruto stared at the balloon and following her order he pushed more chakra into the balloon and was rewarded by the balloon finally popping.

For a second Naruto was left stunned and then he suddenly yelled "YES! Did you see that? I did it!"

"Yep you did with my help." Sakura stated tossing another balloon at the boy who caught it in reflex. "Now try it alone but just like I showed you."

"Right sensei!" Naruto grinned and began to copy what Sakura had done with his chakra. First one flow, then adding another and another until the balloon was bulging all over. Sakura watched Naruto's flows and even though the chakra spinning the water was not as smooth as when she had done it, it should still work.

"Now!" Naruto shouted pushing more power into the flows and the balloon popped. "YES!" the blond boy cheered and bounced up and down in excitement.

"Nice one. Not perfect yet but close enough." Sakura grinned.

Before Naruto could reply a voice she recognised from just as few minutes ago spoke. "Well isn't this a surprise. Who would have thought we'd run into the nine-tails container all the way out here and all alone."

"Who?" Naruto asked in surprise as the two former Konoha gennins turned to find Kisame and Itachi watching them intently. Kisame grinned confidently revealing his shark-like teeth.

**Chapter 14 – Sakura's Ultimate Attack**

Somewhere in Japan, the Past.

"Come here boy!" Genma Saotome's gruff voice called out halting six year old Ranma's kata.

"Wha is it Pops?" the little martial artist in training asked while huffing from being out of breath from the kata Genma had him doing since the moment of waking up.

"It's time to teach you a new technique boy." Genma spoke doing his best imitation of a wise sensei with his arms crossed across his large framed chest.

"Yay! New technique!" Ranma squealed and bounded over his tiredness forgotten. If there was one way to motivate Ranma, Genma had found it was to make everything into a new technique to learn. If Genma felt too lazy to cook food for breakfast one morning, add the fact he felt it was woman's work he would tell Ranma to make the food while claiming it was a new technique. Sometimes when Genma was really hungry he would have Ranma practice a technique he had called Cute-Kid-Distraction in front of food vendors and steal what he needed.

Yes Genma was a thief. He was also a glutton, lazy, a cheat and most importantly an idiot. Despite all this though he was still a damned good martial artist and had once had potential to be a great one but his chronic laziness had wiped that away long ago. After all the man had created not one but two deadly sets of techniques, the Yamasenken and the Umisenken, both of which even he realised were too dangerous and had them sealed as forbidden.

"Wha is it? Wha is it?" Ranma asked bouncing up and down his with his little ponytail following the movements.

"Stand still boy." Genma barked and Ranma stopped his bouncing. Pops was acting serious so this would be a good technique. He would have to concentrate to learn it.

"Now this technique I'm going to teach you is one of the greatest I know. Very few will be able to stand up to the might of the Soatome Ultimate Attack! And it is only second to the Crouch of the Wild Tiger in its effectiveness." Genma boasted.

"Cool!" Ranma breathed in amazement. He had no idea what the technique was but it sounded impressive and he was now even more excited at being able to learn it.

"Now this is a last resort technique only to be used if you are facing an opponent far too powerful for you to defeat with normal attacks alone. It takes enormous willpower to pull the attack off and can tax even the greatest of wills!"

x X x

'You idiot Sakura!' Sakura mentally growled as she stared wide eyed at the S-Rank missing-nin Itachi Uchiha and the large man standing next to him. 'I was too excited at learning that new technique I forgot they might still be following me.'

"Yes how strangely fortunate Kisame." Itachi replied to his partner while scanning for possible traps. This was too much of a coincidence for Itachi and he was still expecting the other shoe to drop.

"Who the heck are you guys?" Naruto shouted pointing at the pair only to have Sakura elbow him lightly in the stomach.

"Ssssh! Idiot don't provoke em!" Sakura told Naruto whose glare turned to worry as he saw Sakura was actually worried at the appearance of these two guys.

"Look…" Sakura started. "We don't want any trouble so can we just all walk away?"

Itachi and Kisame glanced towards each other and shared an amused look before turning back to the two kids.

"Sounds boring little girl." Kisame stated smoothly. "But if you let us have Naruto over there we'll let you go. How about that?"

Sakura blinked in surprise. 'They want Naruto? What could they want him for?'

"What do you want with me?" Naruto shouted once again forgetting Sakura's worry at the situation. He would be damned before he let some strangers take him somewhere without a fight.

"You? Nothing. We want what you contain." Kisame laughed startling Naruto as he figured out what the tall one meant. 'Kyuubi?'

Sakura narrowed her eyes at those words. They wanted something with the damned fox? Were they allies of the demon? Judging by their auras both of them were dangerous and would not hesitate to kill if the chance presented itself. Sakura cursed her luck at this situation.

She knew Itachi's record as he was infamous in Konoha for the murder of his entire clan aside from Sasuke. Sakura examined what she could see of the Uchiha prodigy and concluded he was stronger than she would be capable of facing at this time. His whole body language screamed 'don't mess with me' and his aura was tightly controlled and dangerous.

The other one, Kisame's aura felt even stronger than Itachi's did and definitely more brutal. The sword gave Sakura a strange feeling as well, something was not right about it and she suspected the sword was kept covered for a reason.

There was no way she would leave Naruto to these two to do whatever they had planned for the boy. Feeling out with her ki senses Sakura located Jiraiya's aura and grimaced. The pervert was at the other side of the city from them and would not be able to get here quick enough to help. She would have to stall them and alert Jiraiya somehow.

"What do you want with Kyuubi-chan?" Sakura asked cutely trying to impress on them that she was close to the fox.

'Kyuubi-chan?' both Kisame and Itachi wondered sharing another look.

"So you know Naruto is the nine-tails container." Itachi stated raising his sugegasa with a thumb revealing his Sharingan eyes. He was curious about this girl, there was something off about her and he could not quite put his finger on what exactly. Her chakra levels felt too low to be a threat yet she had set him on edge ever since she had used her disappearing technique.

"Oh yeah, he came looking for me when I was placed in this container." Sakura grinned crazily hoping to put the pair off attacking if they thought her insane. You never could predict what an insane ninja would do. "The Fourth had to practice his sealing on someone you know."

Itachi raised an eyebrow in amusement. Was this girl claiming to be another demon vessel? Unlikely as their organisation already had most of them captured and the remaining sealed ones under surveillance.

"I find that highly unlikely. We know where all nine of the Bijuu are." Itachi spoke amusement clearly evident in his voice. "I'll humour you. Which one are you then?"

"She's the God Slayer!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically "And can kick ass! So you guys better leave now if you know what's good for you!"

Itachi looked bored while Kisame chuckled at Naruto's proclamation and Sakura buried her face in one hand. 'Naruto you dummy.'

"I really, really hate that name." Sakura groaned pinching the bridge of her nose and leaned her head back causing Naruto to look embarrassed at causing Sakura's discomfort.

"Sorry." Naruto apologised before shouting out again. "You guys should start running now cause she's the Wild Horse of the Apocalypse!"

"Bwahahhahaha!" Kisame bent over double laughing at Naruto's claim leaving Itachi looking faintly annoyed at his partner's behaviour. Naruto's face fell in confusion at the suddenly jolly blue giant. "A Horsy! So scary! Bwahaha!" Kisame laughed wiping a tear from his eye.

"Hey! You better…eh?" Naruto was interrupted by Sakura grabbing him by his collar and almost lifted the boy off his feet so she could glare into his eyes.

"Will you shut up!" Sakura growled before releasing her hold on the boy and slapping a palm to her forehead in annoyance. "You're making things worse!"

"Kyuubi…ehehe…and his…bwahahah…little pony!" Kisame was gasping for breath now. "Oh god it hurts too much! Hahahah!"

Sakura's pride swelled up in annoyance at the big man laughing at her names. Even if she did not like them he was poking fun at her and that made her mad. Mad enough to stop thinking clearly and lash out at the shark-like Kisame with her ki claws.

Kisame may have been laughing his head off but he still reacted in time to dodge the attack and stopped laughing instantly as he saw the three gouges that rent the ground mere inches from his feet. Itachi also had to step slightly to the side as well and both missing-nins stared in surprise while Kisame's sugegasa fell off of his head due to part of it being sliced cleanly off.

"What the hell?" Kisame blinked and whipped his head around to face the girl. Sakura stood her hand still held extended from the attack glaring at him angrily.

Itachi narrowed his eyes while calculating the distance between the girl and themselves. 'She was able to project an attack from at least twelve feet away? Maybe her claims have some basis in reality after all.'

Watching her expression go from angry to worried Itachi realised that she had not actually meant to do what she had. As he had the Sharingan active he began to analyse what the girl had done and frowned as he realised that he would not be able to copy it. 'Seems that attack was formed from pure chakra, almost an aura and she is capable of extending the attack across a large distance. She attacked instinctively without conscious thought.'

"Why you little brat." Kisame growled and stepped forward only to have Itachi stop him by placing his arm in front of Kisame.

"Wait. They might be speaking the truth."

"What? You don't believe that do you?" Kisame asked in surprise.

"That attack was instinctual and required no hand seals or focusing of chakra. Just like a Bijuu." Itachi stated watching the pair carefully.

"Well if she is even better. We can then claim to be the only team to capture two at once." Kisame exclaimed while grinning nastily and reaching back to grip his sword's hilt.

'Damn! I'm so stupid! Why did I do that?' Sakura mentally berated herself while she imagined mini floating Sakura's hitting her on the head with a mallet. Narrowing her eyes as she felt the pair's auras focus ready for battle Sakura began planning their escape. 'I'm going to have to use it, the Saotome Ultimate technique. I just hope Jiraiya senses this.'

"Naruto get behind me! I'll handle them." Sakura announced confidently to Itachi and Kisame's surprise.

"Be on your guard." Itachi stated as Sakura stepped forward and began focusing her aura. When Sakura began glowing with power Kisame blinked in shock and turned to Itachi asking "What's she doing?"

Itachi did not reply as Sakura's aura rapidly expanded and her power level began to rocket much to the pairs surprise. Slamming her right fist into her left palm Sakura began growling and a huge wave of killing intent washed over the area. This aura of evil was enough to freeze Naruto in place as he had never felt anything like this come from Sakura before.

Itachi braced himself for an attack while thinking in shock. 'Where did all this power come from? She did not contain this sort of strength a moment ago.'

Sakura held the ki illusion in place and hoped the pair would not figure out what she was doing. She knew the Sharingan could see through Genjutsu and hoped because she was using ki not chakra Itachi would not actually pick up on it.

'Now for the final part.' Sakura grinned and her face took on a demonic appearance as she suddenly seemed to grow right in front of the pair of missing-nins. The girl expanded in size till she stood a good couple of feet above Kisame and then raised her hand to point at Kisame and Itachi.

"Soatome Ultimate Technique!" Sakura announced her voice booming and another burst of even greater killing intent spread out again. "Run away!"

The huge illusion of a giant Sakura blinked out of existence along with the killing intent as Sakura turned, hooked one arm though Naruto's and sprinted away extremely fast trailing the boy like a piece of cloth in the wind and leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

The two missing-nins stood still for a couple of seconds still braced for an attack while staring dumbfounded at the dispersing cloud of dust.

"I think we've been had…" Kisame announced. "Again."

"…Shut up and start running." Itachi growled giving chase.

x X x

Across the city Jiraiya raised his head in surprise. A massive aura of killing intent had just sprung up from across the city in the direction he had left Naruto to train. It was so large that even some of the non-chakra using gamblers in the room had looked up wondering what this feeling of dread was.

Feeling the powerful aura Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock as he recognised the signature. "Aww crap! The girl. She hasn't snapped again?"

x X x

Sasuke bounded across the rooftops and growled to himself. "How the hell can a blond boy wearing bright orange be hard to find!"

Landing on a slopping tiled roof Sasuke almost slipped as a wave of killing intent swept over him. Sasuke managed to gain his balance and looked eastwards. He would recognise that aura anywhere. Ranma.

"Finally some good luck!" Sasuke grinned setting off in the direction of the aura.

x X x

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's scream was heard with a Doppler effect as a red and orange blur rushed past leaving behind shocked people and a cloud of dust. "Slow down!"

Sakura did not listen to the blond boy as she was determined to head towards Jiraiya's position as quick as possible. The pair ended up skidding around a corner into a deserted street by the rear of Tanzaku castle. With the massive illusion she had pulled and the sprint Sakura had used most of the ki she had been absorbing since the morning and was rapidly approaching empty. Knowing she had to stop Sakura skidded to a halt finally allowing Naruto to stand by himself.

"Why did you run?" Naruto shouted only to wince at the look Sakura sent his way.

"Because…" Sakura took a deep breath. "We've been kicked out of out home, are running for our lives, I'm tired from the trip, I've just had the life and times of a fifty something year old martial artist shoved into my skull and the pair of them were S-Rank missing-nins!" Sakura's voice began rising with each word she spoke and poked Naruto in the chest with her finger driving the boy back with each jab. "And to top it all off one of them is Itachi Uchiha!"

"Sasuke's brother?" Naruto blinked. "Oh."

"Oh!" Sakura shrieked. "Is that all you can say?"

"Geez calm down. I didn't know!" Naruto grumbled. "I like you better when you're Ranma."

"Naruto you dummy…crap!" Sakura whipped her head up to see Itachi standing at the end of the street and he did not look pleased. Immediately she turned to look in the other direction to see Kisame sitting calmly on the wall.

"You didn't think you'd get away that easy?" Kisame shouted down the street sliding off the wall to land on his feet and began stalking towards them. "No one tricks us and gets away with it."

Sakura and Naruto stepped back to back with Sakura facing Itachi and Naruto facing Kisame as both of them took their time approaching.

"This is not good." Sakura whispered to Naruto as the missing-nins came to a stop only two feet away from them.

"Itachi, I say we cut off their legs then they can't run away again." Kisame stated grinning pulling his bandaged sword off his back and pointing it at Sakura's back. Sakura divided her attention between Itachi and Kisame's sword as the shark-man swung it lazily towards them.

Naruto sprang out of the way but Sakura held her ground. 'Naruto I hope you can get away.' Drawing as much ki as she could Sakura forced it into her right arm and blocked the sword swing with a grunt. The impact almost buckled her legs but she managed to use her ki to strengthen them enough to hold. Sakura winced as a trickle of blood started to flow down her arm from the sharp edges of the sword and her eyes widened in surprise as the sword was not actually a sword. It was covered in hundreds of shell shaped razor-sharp lumps. Sakura them became aware of something strange, the sword at the point of impact felt almost like it was pulling on her chakra and only her tight control was keeping it from being leeched.

"What the hell?" Kisame stated caught off-guard by the girl's strength. Not only did she block his blow but she was actually holding up the weight of Samehada his sword, but his own strength pushing down on her with one arm. 'Itachi may be right about this girl. Samehada should be sucking her chakra by now and she doesn't seem to be weakening very quickly.' Kisame felt a grin appear on his face. Maybe he would get the battle he was longing for.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted and began reaching for a weapon to attack with.

"Idiot! Run!" Sakura shouted startling Naruto.

"But…"

"I said go!" Sakura growled and pushed back straightening her legs surprising Kisame once again. "Get help!"

Naruto was never one to listen to orders when his friends were in danger and began gather chakra into his palm as he charged up what he thought was the Rasengan. Kisame waited to see what the boy would do and as Naruto sprang at him with a handful of swirling chakra Kisame lifted Samehada up and pointed it at the leaping boy.

Naruto was caught totally by surprise as his chakra was sucked right out of his palm into the sword and he ended up landing on the end of the sword.

"Ooof!" Naruto grunted as Kisame grinned and thrust the sword forwards lightly sending Naruto flying off it backwards to land in a lump on the ground. Naruto raised his face off the ground and glared up at the shark-man.

"You might have noticed by now that Samehada absorbs chakra." Kisame grinned.

While this was going on Sakura reached for a kunai only to have Itachi's hand clamp down on her wrist.

"I don't think so." Itachi told the girl with a glare. Sakura returned the glare and was suddenly shocked by what she saw. Sasuke had just landed in the street behind Itachi and looked extremely pissed.

"It's been a while…Sasuke." Itachi said without looking while still holding Sakura's arm tightly.

"Itachi Uchiha…" Sasuke finally spoke his voice like ice.

Both Naruto and Kisame had turned to watch the new arrival. "Oh ho! Today is indeed a special day don't you think?" Kisame spoke amused. "This is only the second time I've seen another Sharingan."

"Sasuke…" Sakura whispered partly pleased to see him, partly afraid for the boy and partly resenting him.

"I will kill you!" Sasuke spoke the words like they were the absolute truth.

"Who is this guy?" Kisame asked surprised at seeing another Sharingan user.

"He is my younger brother." Itachi stated.

"Really? I heard the entire Uchiha clan was wiped out…by you." Kisame asked surprised Itachi had not mentioned his little brother was still alive.

Itachi finally released Sakura's arm and turned to face Sasuke whose face grew even angrier if possible at the sight of his brother. The two stared at each other before Sasuke burst forward with an animal like scream a kunai held ready.

Itachi calmly stood his ground as Sasuke charged toward him bellowing. As the boy came into grabbing distance Itachi easily caught his outstretched arm and squeezed down causing Sasuke to drop his weapon in pain.

"You bastard!" Sasuke growled as he stared into his brother's eyes.

"Is this it?" Itachi asked. "Is this all your hatred can produce?" and with a twist he snapped Sasuke's arm. It took a second for the pain register in Sasuke's brain before he shouted out and dropped to his knees. Itachi ground the bones against each other just to show how utterly beaten Sasuke was causing the younger Uchiha to scream.

"Bastard you've beaten him! Let go of him!" Sakura's voice shouted.

Itachi knelt down to Sasuke's face level and spoke again. "That girl over there has put up a better fight than you weakling." With a final squeeze Itachi let go of Sasuke's broken arm and stood back up.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Itachi heard Sakura's voice shout out and suddenly he found himself being pummelled by hundred of blows. Even with the Sharingan allowing him to see most of the attacks he found himself unable to dodge every single blow.

'This girl is full of surprises.' Itachi thought to himself lazily as her punches lacked strength. 'Strange how one minute she is incredibly strong then the next her blows are weak.'

Sakura knew she was taking a long shot using this attack when her ki was running low and she was not surprised that Itachi was barely fazed by the attack. 'Damn it!' Sakura thought as her fist was caught by the man.

Sakura glared at him and suddenly Itachi's eyes changed. Sakura blinked as the world suddenly went black.

"What the hell?" Sakura stated as she found herself standing alone in the middle of an empty street. All the colours in the world had turned to black and everything was highlighted in white.

"Now we can talk for a while without interruptions." Itachi's voice spoke from behind her. Sakura spun around to face the older Uchiha.

"What is this?"

"The true power of the Sharingan. Mangekyo Sharingan." Itachi stated.

"So, it's not just for copying moves then." Sakura stated looking around and attempting to draw ki and found nothing there.

"This is my world. I can control everything here even time. A second in the real world can last three days here." Itachi told Sakura taking a step towards her. Sakura suddenly found herself unable to move.

"What the hell!"

Itachi walked up to her and then began circling the helpless girl examining her closely. Sakura stared straight ahead and refused to let the bastard see any fear on her face. He stopped behind her and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Now you'll answer a few questions before we start having some fun." Itachi stated.

"Like hell!" Sakura growled and was rewarded with pain. Itachi had thrust a sword through her back. Sakura grimaced and fought the pain from the blade poking out of her stomach. Sakura whimpered slightly but that was the only indication she was hurt.

"You'll make things easier on yourself by cooperating." Itachi stated withdrawing the sword and Sakura felt the world shift slightly and she was suddenly unhurt again. "Now who are you?"

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura answered while her mind working overtime trying to figure a way out of this.

"Really? I thought you claimed to be a demon vessel." Itachi stated suddenly standing in front of her and cupping her chin to stare into her eyes. Itachi stared deep into her eyes searching for whatever caused this girl's ability to unsettle him. "You only appear to be a liar."

"Go to hell asshole." Sakura growled. 'This is not real but he can hurt me as if it was. I have to escape somehow but where to? If this is all in my mind then…maybe I can escape somewhere.' Sakura thought drawing on Ranma's experience with the Neko-ken. There was a place in his mind that was locked away from the world. A place where he had kept the Neko-ken until Ranma had gained control over it. If that place still existed…

"We are already in hell and I control it." Itachi stated. "Maybe after a couple of day's pain you'll tell me what I want to know."

Itachi once again stabbed the sword into Sakura's body and this time she did scream out but strangely almost right away she went limp. Itachi frowned and stabbed her a couple more times but there was no reaction.

"Strange…" Itachi actually frowned and lifted the girl's chin and found her eyes seemed blank almost dead. "Have I broken you already?"

Itachi stabbed her once more to make sure. No reaction. He twisted the blade. Still no reaction. Releasing the girl he watched her crumple to the ground bonelessly.

Itachi swore. He had broken people before but never this fast and he still had nearly a full seventy two hours to wait before the technique ended and nothing to do but stab an unfeeling corpse. Sometimes it did not pay to get out of bed.

x X x

Itachi blinked as the real world returned. He was still holding the girl's outstretched fist and only a couple of seconds had actually passed. When that technique went wrong it really was boring. Releasing Sakura's hand he watched the girl's arm drop and she began to wobble.

"You've taken care of her?" Kisame asked surprised Itachi would actually use the Mangekyo Sharingan on the girl.

"Yes. She broke very quickly…almost…too quickly." Itachi stated and frowned as he felt the temperature behind him drop rapidly and saw Kisame had almost started gaping.

Sasuke looked up as he too felt the temperature drop and realised what it meant. Ranma was pissed.

Itachi turned around slowly to see the girl he thought broken glaring at him surrounded by a blue aura that flickered like fire. While he watched mist began to form around the girl as she drew in ki as quickly as possible.

"You've done it now bastard." Sasuke grinned at his brother and hoped Ranma would hurt him remembering his beating when Ranma flipped the cold switch.

Sakura kept her eyes down avoiding Itachi's eyes as she spoke in a cold voice. "Nice try but I'm used to those sorts of tricks. I bet your Mangekyo Sharingan has to make eye contact to hypnotise someone right?"

Itachi's eyes actually widened fractionally barely enough to be visible. 'This girl broke the Mangekyo Sharingan and figured it's weakness after only seeing it once.'

Sakura raised both her hands in front of herself and formed a circle with her thumbs and pointer fingers pointing it at Itachi and grinned evilly.

"Happogojuensatsu revised." Sakura stated emotionlessly and Itachi actually blinked as he felt his chakra begin to be yanked out of himself forcefully just like Kisame's sword could. As he felt his chakra being stolen Itachi tried to move but found the speed the girl was ripping his chakra out prevented it. 'How?'

Kisame noticed right away something was wrong as Itachi suddenly felt like he was getting weaker. With a leap Kisame shouldered Itachi out to the way of whatever the girl was doing and Itachi found himself able to move again.

"What the hell is that girl?" Kisame asked as Itachi stared with a look of stunned shock on his face as the girl had seemed to mature before their very eyes. No longer did she look like a young girl but a young woman. Kisame had never seen Itachi look shocked before.

Sakura was now pumped full of chakra and also pissed off. She dropped the Soul of Ice technique and spun to face the pair again.

"Move! Don't let her focus her hands on you!" Itachi stated with urgency and sprinted away. Kisame took his lead and the pair began circling the transformed girl.

"Happotsurisengaeshi!" Adult-Sakura shouted as a ball of chakra formed and began growing bigger and bigger in front of her hands.

"Jump!" Itachi commanded and the pair leapt apart just in time as Sakura finally released the built-up energy into a blast that rocketed toward the missing-nins tearing up and vaporizing the ground. The blast continued on smashing into the wall surrounding the castle and tore through that before finally tapering off and disappearing.

Itachi landed lightly on the ground and Kisame dropped down beside him one hand on his sword. They both realised the girl had returned to her normal form.

"What did she just do?" Kisame asked stunned by the damage.

"She somehow sucked out a chunk of my chakra and then used it to power an attack." Itachi stated and noted the girl seemed tired but she was already turning to face them again and forming that seal with her fingers. At least he thought it was a seal.

"Then we just avoid her and attack from a distance." Kisame grumbled as he like up-close combat. Itachi nodded examining the damage. If that was what she could cause with just a small amount of his chakra what could she do with Kisame's vast reserves?

"Sakura!" Naruto cheered as he ran over to stand beside her. Sasuke stared up at Sakura in a look of envy and shock. It was at this moment that Jiraiya finally turned up. The toad sennin dropped from the sky to land next to Sakura who inclined her head slightly.

"Took your time perv. You getting slow in your oldage." Sakura grinned and even through her tiredness she suddenly felt that the tables had turned.

"No I knew you would be able to handle these losers so took my time." Jiraiya joked with Sakura while getting ready to fight.

Kisame growled at being called a loser but Itachi placed a hand against the big man's chest.

"Don't. We can't beat them now. We'll try again later as if it's true there's no need to hurry and capture Naruto."

"Damn." Kisame swore as Itachi took off running and with a last look at the girl he followed.

x X x

The group of four returned to the inn quickly attempting to avoid anyone seeing them. At the moment they all sat in the restaurant part of the inn. Jiraiya had set Sasuke's arm and was in the process of splinting and wrapping it up. The boy was upset but had only sent strange looks towards Sakura and not said a word.

Sakura was sitting on a chair head leaned over the back of it and looking almost asleep, but had claimed she was actually just mediating to recover. Naruto spent his time watching Sakura and helping Jiraiya work on Sasuke's arm. His worry for his friends apparent.

"There that should do." Jiraiya stated as he finally got Sasuke's arm into a sling. "Now what are you doing here and how did you find us?"

Sasuke kept his eyes down refusing to answer and Jiraiya sighed in annoyance at the boy's refusal to talk.

"I…err…told him where we were going." Naruto mumbled to which Jiraiya slapped a palm across his face and groaned while pulling his fingers down and letting go at his chin.

"What part of not telling anyone did you not understand?" Jiraiya asked annoyed then sighed. "Too late now. So why did you follow?"

"They're on my team." Sasuke mumbled lying about his reasons. His confrontation with Itachi had left him feeling useless. All this time training and he was a far behind his brother as ever. To top it all off, Ranma had actually stood up to and actually forced Itachi to run. 'That technique I have to learn it.'

"Ranma!" Sasuke stated standing up and wincing as the throbbing of his arm increased. "That technique what was it?"

Sakura blinked and raised her head to look at Sasuke in annoyance. "I'm Sakura no matter who I was."

"What technique?" Jiraiya asked interested.

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned. "It was so cool! She blasted the entire street apart!"

"Happogojuensatsu Revised and Happotsurisengaeshi." Sakura stated. "The first one you use to absorb a person's ki stroke chakra and store it for your own use. Basically becoming a ki vampire." Sakura paused as she noted she had everyone's complete attention. "I figured out it could suck chakra as well and I was right."

Sakura paused waiting for questions and when none came continued. "The other is basically the reverse. You throw the energy right back at them. But it'll leave you almost empty but if you don't pass out you can suck more right back."

"Can you teach me?" Sasuke demanded. "I need to kill that man. He killed my whole clan!"

Sakura stared at Sasuke internally debating if she should. Normally she would not but after meeting Itachi and falling victim to what he could do…

"I…yeah I should be able to." Sakura stated and watched Sasuke's face light up. "But…it requires altering ki pathways and various pressure point manipulations and I don't know exactly how to do it. You see I…had some help regaining that trick. Ranma had his previous master do it to him. I'll need some time to study chakra pathways before trying it."

"How long?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"I don't know. A couple of month's maybe. You have to understand it can be dangerous to attempt." Sakura stated worry in her voice.

"If anyone can you can!" Naruto cheered lightening the mood.

"Thanks Naruto." Sakura grinned.

"This technique can you show me?" Jiraiya asked and suddenly felt scared as Sakura's grin widened to Narutoish proportions.

"Oh yeah Jiraiya, if you stand over there." Sakura asked sweetly pointing to a corner and setting alarm bells going in the toad sennin's head.

"Over here?" Jiraiya asked nervously as Sakura formed a circle with her thumbs and fingers and placed it facing Jiraiya.

"Don't worry I won't take much. Don't want to blow the building up right?"

"Errr maybe this isn't such a good idea…" Jiraiya began but was interrupted as he felt his chakra pulled from himself and stared in shock as Sakura changed growing older in front of his eyes. The girl went from twelve to somewhere around twenty her proportions adjusting to suit and making her cloths become tighter. Very tight.

Jiraiya blinked as she lowered her arms and grinned. "That's the absorbing part. Now…"

"I LIKE IT!!!" Jiraiya seemed to teleport and was in Sakura's face interrupting her with two thumbs raised and a cheesy expression of approval on his face. With a lecherous grin Jiraiya place one arm over Sakura's shoulders. "That's one heck of a technique. Now if you can stay like that from now on while were training. He he he he." Jiraiya made no attempt to hide the fact he was staring down Sakura's top at her now adult chest and grinning.

Sakura elbowed the pervert knocking his breath out of his lungs and reforming the circle pointed at his face.

"Huh?"

"Happotsurisengaeshi revised! Pervert away!" Sakura shouted releasing the small piece of the energy right in Jiraiya's face sending the pervert flying across the room to crash into the far wall and returning her to normal.

**Chapter 15 – Summoning the Fox**

The sound of rain falling and splashing against the roof of the inn and trickling down the drains was the only noise heard during the early hours of the morning. The rain would occasionally slap against the windows when the wind shifted.

Inside the inn most of the guests where deep in sleep, Sakura however was not. The girl sat cross legged on her bedroll in the centre of the room that Jiraiya was paying for and was deep in mediation. The window blinds were drawn tightly shut to prevent attracting any attention due to her aura glowing and bathing the room with blue flickering shadows that danced like flames of a fire.

Sakura was forgoing sleep and instead using a meditation technique to allow her to gather ambient ki and allowing her to recover quickly. It was not quite as good as sleeping for resting but she had a lot on her mind at the moment and this would help her go over it.

Itachi Uchiha. Sakura was loathe to admit it but he scared her, that technique that allowed him to mentally torture a person in anyway he wanted was terrifying. The only way she had not had to endure the effects was by retreating to the sealed area of her mind that was the remnants of the neko-ken's prison. Even getting desperate and using the Happogojuensatsu and draining a chunk of his chakra the guy still easily figured out how to avoid the technique once his partner knocked him out of the way. Only because of Jiraiya arriving did they give up and leave.

Sakura found her respect for Jiraiya as a fighter growing, even if he was a pervert. For Itachi and Kisame to give up at Jiraiya's appearance spoke volumes of his abilities and Sakura was now curious to just how strong the older man actually was.

Itachi and Kisame may have retreated for now but if they where after Naruto then they would be back and next time she would not catch them so off guard. Her thoughts turned to Naruto or more precisely Kyuubi. What was Itachi wanting with Kyuubi? This puzzled Sakura. Were they wanting to release the demon? That was a possibility but if someone released Kyuubi he would more than likely kill them just for the fun of it and Sakura pretty much knew the pair alone would not be able to handle him.

Unless they had backup.

Itachi had mentioned an organisation. Just how big of an organisation and what sort of goal were they trying to achieve? The only thing Sakura could believe wholeheartedly was they wanted Kyuubi's power for their own.

Maybe Jiraiya would know. Sakura decided to ask the pervert and felt out with her ki senses. There was Naruto, he was fast asleep and his presence felt happy. 'Must be having a good dream.' Sakura thought amazed at the boy's ability to completely forget trouble and sleep. Another probe she found Sasuke was also asleep but his aura was laced with anger, fear, depression and thoughts of revenge.

Sakura frowned at this. She had promised to teach him the Happogojuensatsu but was now wondering if this was such a good idea. The boy's mental state was like that of Ryouga from Ranma's past and the memories of Ryouga's depression fuelled rampage at Akane's death still haunted Ranma nearly thirty years later as he had been forced to stop the boy from killing many of the survivors in his broken mental state. Would teaching Sasuke dangerous techniques have him ending up like Ryouga?

Sakura shook her head to clear the bad memories and stood up after finding Jiraiya's aura. It seemed the toad sennin was still awake and seemed to be brooding. Sakura walked over to the exit from the room, opened the door and stepped lightly out into the corridor. Making her way to the end she walked down the spiral staircase that led into the restaurant area below.

Sakura found Jiraiya stood leaning against the wall arms crossed and staring out into the rain his face serious for once. The rain running down the window would cast shadows across the sennin's face.

"You can't sleep either?" Jiraiya asked not turning to look at her as Sakura approached.

"I don't need much anymore. Got plenty of tricks to go for days without it." Sakura answered as she joined the older man in staring out of the window. Sakura traced the trail of a pair of droplets as they ran down the window twisting and gaining size as they joined others like them.

"Itachi and that other guy Kisame mentioned that their organisation is after Naruto." Sakura stated. "Or I should say Kyuubi. Why?"

"I don't know their ultimate goal but what my sources have uncovered by accident as they were tracking Orochimaru is that organisation is called Akatsuki. Orochimaru joined them shortly but ended up…falling out with Itachi and left." Jiraiya told the girl standing beside him.

"You mean the snake freak tried to steal his body like he wants with Sasuke." Sakura stated. "And Itachi is strong enough to kick the snake's butt."

"Yeah, close enough." Jiraiya smirked slightly.

"This keeps getting worse and worse. Exactly how many super strong guys are after Naruto, Sasuke or me?"

"Too many." Jiraiya sighed. "Which is why you guys needed the protection of a hidden village not just one guy. I'm going to admit I was overconfident in my abilities to look after you guys but after today I'm not so sure."

"They did run when you arrived." Sakura stated trying to look on the bright side.

"Only because they weren't expecting me." Jiraiya sighed. "Next time they'll be prepared to face me. Two on one will be a tough battle and I'll have to worry about you guys."

Sakura lowered her head slightly knowing that was more likely very true. After all from being Ranma she knew that once you've seen everything your opponent can do and figured out their abilities it was much easier to take them down. Use the first battle as a test and retreat. Come back and wipe the floor with them once you had a plan.

"If I had my old body…" Sakura whispered looking at her hands. Her little twelve year old hands that lacked the strength she once had. The last few days she had taken a blow to her confidence as well. Until now she had done fine against anyone who challenged her but having to run and being left with such a low level of ki and chakra almost constantly was getting to her. It seemed like as soon as she gained any significant level of ki she was forced to use it in a battle.

"Well you don't so stop worrying about it." Jiraiya commanded turning to face her. "We just need to get you up to scratch. When you use that technique your body matures. Why?"

"Because my body can't handle the energy fully. But with the manipulation done to my pathways they can alter themselves to accommodate it. It's a side effect of the technique not what it set out to actually do." Sakura answered.

"Sounds like what Naruto went through when he saved you from the cursed seal." Jiraiya pondered wondering about the similarity. Naruto's body could not actually hold demonic chakra unless it could adapt. "Can you maintain that form?"

"Stop being perverted!" Sakura hissed jumping up and slapping Jiraiya on the head.

"I wasn't." Jiraiya grumbled rubbing the spot she had hit. "I'm being serious here."

"Oh." Sakura said while looking thoughtful. "Normally the stolen energy leaks away fairly quickly as Hinako-sensei would revert back to a child within an hour. I'm pretty good at holding it, though it still leaks as it's not my own."

"So. Your own chakra can grow as normal and won't affect your body at all." Jiraiya surmised and at Sakura's nod he continued. "But foreign chakra sounds like it can't be stored in your own coils the same way and your body has to adapt to hold it. Because it's not your natural chakra it will leak over time and you revert."

"Sounds about right." Sakura said looking thoughtful. Ranma had never truly figured out why someone's body changed just by absorbing ki. 'Of course.' Sakura thought. 'Ranma didn't know about chakra. It changes everything about the technique.'

"You mentioned your sensei would revert to a child? How old was she?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well she would be around thirty at…oh no." Sakura felt her stomach drop in worry.

"Oh no what?" Jiraiya asked startled by the way Sakura had gone pale.

Suddenly the girl burst out swearing in a language he did not understand, although because of the girl's tone he got the general gist. Once Sakura had exhausted Ranma's knowledge of English swearwords he had learned from the Americans she reverted back to Japanese and continued. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow in disbelief at the girl's potty mouth.

"I take it there's a side effect you've just remembered?" Jiraiya asked and suddenly wished he had not spoken at the icy glare Sakura sent his way. The temperature in the room had dropped a couple of degrees as well.

"That bastard fox! He never thinks of consequences. Ever!" Sakura burst out growling. Jiraiya kept quiet waiting for her to calm down and tell him what was wrong. Finally Sakura sighed and her shoulders slumped.

"Are you okay now?" Jiraiya asked carefully.

"Peachy." Sakura growled. "Just one problem. I'm going to be stuck as a freaking twelve year old for the rest of my life!"

Jiraiya blinked. "Are you certain?"

"Yeah. Once the technique's done to you you're left stunted at the point in time when it happened. Happosai did the alterations on my twentieth birthday as I was sufficiently mature then to not need to worry about growing anymore." Sakura dropped to the ground into cross-legged position and crossed her arms pouting.

"I take it the fox gave you back this ability when Naruto saved you." Jiraiya said joining the girl on the floor.

"Yeah." Sakura groaned before a determined look appeared in her eyes. "I'm going to confront the fuzzy moron!"

"How?" Jiraiya asked worried. Would she try and unseal him?

"Like this. He linked me to him which means I should be able to summon him."

"Are you crazy?" Jiraiya burst forward and grabbed Sakura's arms and shook her slightly. "Don't you even dare try that!"

"Gah!" Sakura yelped. "Don't worry. It's not a proper summons!"

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked narrowing his eyes.

"You don't think I spent thirty years fighting demon's without picking up how summons worked?" Sakura asked annoyed. "Basically I'll use a small bit of my energy to create a temporary body for the fox to use. He'll stay exactly where he is and can only have access to the amount of energy used to create the body. There are rules to this and even he must obey them."

Jiraiya slowly let go of Sakura's arms as he pondered her words. Was she really telling the truth?

"Don't worry." Sakura said as she focus power into her palm and Jiraiya began to feel nervous again.

"Now to summon him." Sakura grinned and pushed the glowing energy against the floor and there was a bright flash and Jiraiya covered his eyes.

"Hehhehe! Free! I knew you would eventually summon…erk?" a voice spoke sounding like a demented chipmunk.

Jiraiya's jaw dropped and he started sweating as he observed the floor now had runes burnt into it and in the centre was a … well it looked like a fox. A really, really small one.

Sakura reached forward and picked up the tiny ball of fluff by the scruff of its neck and grinned maliciously at it.

"What hell? You bitch!" Pygmy-Kyuubi roared but it came out more as a squeak. "How dare you summon me like this!!"

"Shut it pipsqueak." Sakura growled shaking the mini-fox which squealed at being swung around. "This is all the power you'll get from me."

"Is that…that…it?" Jiraiya asked in complete incredulity while leaning closer and pointing a shaking finger at the tiny fox. Pygmy-Kyuubi took offence to Jiraiya and latched on the toad sennin's outstretched finger with his tiny needle-like teeth.

"Yow!" Jiraiya yelped shaking his hand and yanking the fox from Sakura's hand. Jiraiya blinked as he held his hand in front of his face and stared at the fox that was attempting to devour his finger. "I don't believe this."

"Come here." Sakura said pulling the fox off Jiraiya's finger and walking over to a nearby table where she dumped the fox and pulled a chair out and sat down. Jiraiya followed looking perplexed.

"Now you damn fox, we're gonna talk." Sakura growled.

"Send me back! I'd rather be imprisoned than suffer this humiliation." Pygmy-Kyuubi whinged.

"Now you know how I feel!" Sakura growled poking the fox sending it onto its back. Pygmy-Kyuubi sprang back to its feet and growled.

"Bitch!" Pygmy-Kyuubi yelped.

"No I'm a girl. I think you'll find you're the bitch here." Sakura grinned enjoying the payback immensely. Pygmy-Kyuubi blinked then checked underneath herself and burst into swearing. "How dare you create such a body for me! Me! The Kyuubi!"

"I see your ego has grown in the time I've been gone." Sakura grinned before she turned serious. "Do you have any idea what you did to me?"

Pygmy-Kyuubi glared at the girl before growling out cutely. "I gave you your old abilities back. I remembered the configuration of your flows and adapted your current ones. You should be grateful to me. You will be far stronger here than you were before."

"And like everything you do it's for your benefit not mine. I'll never reach that potential now you stupid fox!" Sakura growled. "I'm going to be stuck this age for the rest of my life!"

Pygmy-Kyuubi blinked at the news actually not knowing that. "Really?"

"Yes really. I bet you were hoping for me to absorb loads of chakra and then create you a powerful body right?" Sakura asked. "You can't get past the seal without outside help."

Pygmy-Kyuubi just growled.

"Well you've screwed up this time fox." Sakura stated. "And like before I'll be the one to suffer for it."

Silence fell over the room and the only sound was the patter of rain.

"You are really the nine-tails?" Jiraiya asked breaking the silence his voice laced with disbelief.

"Yes I am you hairless ape!" Pygmy-Kyuubi shouted.

"Then answer me one question." Jiraiya said. "Why did you attack Konoha?"

The fox just looked away.

"Answer him fox. You know the rules. My energy my orders." Sakura stated.

"Fine." Spat Pygmy-Kyuubi in annoyance. "Because his spirit had finally gathered enough energy to reform in a new body and I came to collect my property."

"Oh." Jiraiya breathed leaning back before doing a double take. "His?"

"You mean you haven't told them?" Pygmy-Kyuubi asked innocently and if looks could kill the fox would have been hung, drawn and quartered, burnt at the stake and ashes scattered to the four winds before you blink.

"His?" Jiraiya asked again louder this time.

"Yep. Ranma was a male. Didn't he tell you?" Pygmy-Kyuubi chuckled.

"You really are a pervert-chan?" Jiraiya stated in surprise. "And I was just joking as well. Who'd have thought?"

"Shut up both of you." Sakura growled hanging her head.

"Don't worry." Jiraiya stated patting Sakura's shoulder and reaching into his robes with his other hand. "I won't say a word. Now if you take this camera with you when you bathe…"

Sakura punched Jiraiya in the chin knocking the toad sennin off his chair and into a heap on the floor.

The fox chuckled at the pair sounding like a squeaky wheel.

Sakura turned her attention back to the fox. "How the heck could that happen to me? Only you Bijuu have that sort of ability."

"True." The mini-fox grinned. "Sister."

x X x

"Wow. So that's his true identity." Kabuto stated impressed as he had just watched Gaara demolish Dosu from Sound easily. He turned to Baki who was watching him intently. As normal he had half of his face hidden behind a cloth.

"It's come to our attention that Konoha has its own demon vessel." Baki stated sounding annoyed.

"Oh?" Kabuto asked smiling faintly at the statement.

"It seems the stories of the nine-tails' destruction were not quite true." Baki continued. "In fact it seems they were used to cover up the truth. Konoha sealed the nine-tails into a boy."

"Yep. It's true." Kabuto grinned waving a hand at his boss' allies concerns.

"You weren't going to inform us of this fact?" Baki growled growing tired at Kabuto's lack of concern. "We can not go ahead with the invasion knowing this. Konoha could unleash that power on us."

"Don't worry about it. You see the nine-tails kid is gone." Kabuto stated his smile never wavering.

"Gone?"

"Yes. The silly Konoha council got scared at his rampage a couple of days ago and chased the boy out of the city." Kabuto chuckled. "You have nothing to worry about."

"You mean that episode was the nine-tails?" Baki asked in surprise. Kankuro and Temari's report about Gaara's behaviour that day started to make sense. "And the day after?" Baki asked in wonder as everyone in the city had seen the painting of the Hokage monument and various other things that went on.

"The same boy." Kabuto smiled in amusement at that. Konoha was still trying to clean the paint off. "Orochimaru was…amused to hear about the vandalism."

Around the corner of the building the pair were stood on Hayate Gekko crouched listening intently. He had been following Kabuto since word had been spread from what Kakashi had told the Hokage. He was shocked to learn that the Sound where allies with the Sand. They were planning an invasion of Konoha and he found himself even more surprised to hear they would have backed down if Naruto had still been in the city.

"Here are our plans." Kabuto stated passing a sealed scroll over to Baki who took it and placed it safely in a pocket in his top.

"Oh and one more thing…" Kabuto stated his face losing the smile and turning serious. "I'll clean up here."

"No." Baki spoke. "I'll do it. As a partner, the Sand should do something too. Plus it's only one rat!"

x X x

"Sister?" Sakura blinked. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"You haven't figured it out?" Pygmy-Kyuubi grinned. "Surely the great Ranma Saotome, the God Slayer should have guessed by now."

Sakura leaned down close to the fox. "Tell me what you mean. That's an order."

"Fine." Pygmy-Kyuubi stated as Jiraiya reseated himself and listened intently. "Unlike humans when we Bijuu have our physical form destroyed our spirits hang around and depending on how much power we had at the time of destruction we can reform. If we run out of strength we float around regaining power until such time we can reform. The fact we're spiritual creatures is why we can be summoned from our home plane or banished back. But never destroyed."

"Like you were summoned to kill Ranma." Sakura growled.

"Yes." Pygmy-Kyuubi stated.

"Wait. Wait. Wait." Jiraiya interrupted. "The nine-tails was summoned into this world to kill you?"

"Yeah, but he was only a one tail then. It's in his contract. We can't rid of him till he does that or I die…" Sakura trailed off before glaring at the fox again. "So you did something to prevent me dying!"

"No." Pygmy-Kyuubi shook her little head. "I had nothing to do with that. But it is true I did not want you dead."

"Just why would you not want to kill someone?" Jiraiya asked puzzled.

"Because fool, here I'm the strongest in this world. Would you give up that position and return to a place where you were one of the weakest?" Pygmy-Kyuubi stated angrily. "Where I come from achieving even two tails of power is almost impossible as the oldest of us have all the power and keep it to themselves. Destroying any who start gaining any power before they become a threat."

"So you wanted to stay here and become just like them." Sakura spat in annoyance at the fox. "You want to be the big cheese. No wonder you wanted that rift closed as much as everyone else."

"Of course."

"So if you had nothing to do with me surviving how did I?" Sakura growled.

"The Neko-ken." Pygmy-Kyuubi stated. "That summoning ritual to bind a cat-spirit creature to the trainee's soul and merges you into one being. Ranma was the first such fusion to retain so much humanity that he has literally become a human Bijuu. The others of that technique all reverted to their animal selves at death."

"But…but I was born as normal." Sakura stuttered feeling ill at Kyuubi's words.

"Heh…you won't like this then." Pygmy-Kyuubi grinned, her face gaining an evil look.

"That poor little girl's body that you wear had her soul destroyed when you took it over while she was still in the womb. Whether it was instinct or your memories of how humans are born, the woman to carry you just happened to be in the wrong place at the time when you regained enough power to choose a body." Pygmy-Kyuubi laughed as Sakura's face paled and the girl started shaking.

"You…your…lying." Sakura whispered as a feeling of self loathing swelled up in her. Was this true? Had she became a monster just like the Bijuu? A parasite that when it died hung around until something suitable came along that it could take over?

"I can't lie with this summons on me remember."

"It's not true!" Sakura stood up violently sending the chair flying across the room. With one last look of loathing at the summoned fox Sakura sprinted from the room.

"Sakura!" Jiraiya leapt after her and missed the girl's arm allowing her to slam the door open and disappeared into the rain.

Jiraiya glared at the malevolently laughing little fox in anger. With a thought he created a Rasengan and slammed it down on the fox destroying it and the table in shower of wood and sending the fox back to its prison.

x X x

Itachi swirled his tea around lazily deep in thought. The pair had found a bar that stayed open twenty four hours and had taken one of the seats by the window. At the moment he was plotting how to take down Jiraiya who was guarding the nine-tails' container.

The other patrons were keeping a fair distance from the pair. Probably due to the size of the sword Kisame carried.

"I'm still annoyed you had us run. I think we could take him." Kisame mumbled. Itachi remained silent.

"Well you're talkative tonight." Kisame sighed.

"That girl escaped the Mangekyo Sharingan somehow." Itachi stated finally putting his cup down untouched. "I want to know how."

"So she got lucky." Kisame said.

"No." Itachi stated simply looking out the window at the rain. "She seemed to know how to…hide from such techniques."

"I was more interested in how she sucked your chakra out."

"A bloodline." Itachi stated. "That all it could be. Techniques like that are always limited to a bloodline. Especially as it produced a transformation."

"So…are we going to inform the boss of our failure?" Kisame asked.

"No." Itachi stated. "No need to. We weren't expected to go after the nine-tails yet."

As Kisame joined Itachi in staring out the window a girl with partly pink hair sprinted past holding an arm in front of her face.

"Did you just see?" Kisame stated blinking and pointing.

"Yes." Itachi replied standing up followed closely by a grinning Kisame.

x X x

Sakura just ran. She did not know where she was going just that she wanted, no needed to get as far from the fox as possible. It could not be true.

She wanted to dismiss its words as lies but somehow they made sense to her. The thought that she had stolen the body of an innocent girl made her feel physically ill. She was supposed to be a protector of those weaker than herself not some monster that stole bodies.

So caught up in hating herself and the fox she did not see the tall shadow step out in front of her until it was too late to stop. Sakura crashed into the figure and bounced off it to land awkwardly in the street.

Sakura looked up through teary and rain covered eyes and found herself staring up at Kisame and Itachi both of who where glaring down at her.

Sakura tried to stand but Kisame swung his sword far too fast for her to avoid from her position. The bandaged blade caught her and lifted her off the ground and the momentum kept her pinned to the sword until Kisame stopped the swing. Sakura was flung off the blade and smashed into a nearby store front where she slid bonelessly to the ground.

The pair approached carefully, wary in case she was playing possum. Itachi knelt down and lifted her chin and was pleased to see she really was out cold. A faint trickle blood from the corner of mouth indicated the amount of force Kisame had used.

Standing up Itachi nodded at Kisame and the large man picked the girl up roughly and draped her over his shoulder.

"That went much better." Kisame chuckled.

**Chapter 16 – The Last Revelation**

"So, what're we going to do with her?" Kisame asked adjusting the limp girl hanging over his shoulder as she began slipping from the motion of Sakura's arms swinging lightly behind Kisame's back with each step the large shark-like man took.

"I want to know how she escaped the Mangekyo Sharingan." Itachi answered while observing the rain was easing up.

"I'm still surprised you wasted your energy using such a technique on this girl." Kisame stated glancing sideways at Itachi, seeming concerned. "You know how it affects you."

Itachi did not reply immediately instead choosing to study the street ahead. "You shouldn't worry so much, Kisame. There's something strange about her though. I get the feeling she's more powerful that she appears."

"You actually think she was speaking the truth? About being a demon vessel?" Kisame asked with a shrug.

"That's what we'll find out soon."

The pair continued on in silence for a bit until Kisame once again asked a question. "And then what?"

"Hmm?" Itachi hummed. "We'll go fishing."

"Fishing?" Kisame blinked and then grinned realising what Itachi was meaning. "Then it's a good thing we've got the needed bait."

Just as Kisame finished speaking the pair sensed an attack. The two Akatsuki members reacted at the same time, leaping away as a blob of thick black oil splattered onto the ground where they had been standing and instantly burst into flame despite the rain. Itachi and Kisame landed side by side facing back down the street to see Jiraiya and one of his toad summons.

"Damn. I missed." Jiraiya growled his face deadly serious. "Give me Sakura and I might be merciful." The toad sennin announced punching a palm and proceeded to crack his knuckles menacingly.

Kisame glanced over at Itachi asking the silent question. 'Do we run this time?'

Itachi shook his head and spoke quietly to Kisame. "Turn around."

While Kisame did as asked Itachi continued speaking but this time addressed Jiraiya. "Someone like you does not miss with an attack that vicious. If it had landed you would have also hurt this girl, Sakura was it, too."

Jiraiya's face grew darker if possible at Itachi's words.

"This means, you are putting on a show of force to try and intimidate us." Itachi said side-stepping to stop right beside Sakura's head. It was at this time Sakura groaned and twitched causing Kisame to blink at the sudden movement.

'Waking up in less than five minutes after taking a hit off Kisame," Itachi thought to himself surprised. 'This girl is something else.' If Itachi showed emotion he would have grinned at the girl's timing and as Sakura blinked her eyes and groggily wondered which part of Tokyo Akane had hammered her to this time, Itachi turned slightly and threw a fast punch across the girl's chin once again knocking her unconscious.

"Not so fast." Itachi intoned dully as Jiraiya sprang forward and came to a halt as Itachi violently yanked Sakura's head up by her hair and with his other hand lightly pressed the blade of a sword to her throat.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes dangerously while trying to come up with a plan that would not leave Sakura with a slit throat.

"Ho, ho!" Kisame grinned. "Isn't this turning into a right standoff."

"Are you a betting man Jiraiya?" Itachi asked. "Do you think you can get over here and stop me before I slit her throat?"

"Put her down and I'll let you two walk away with no pursuit." Jiraiya told Itachi. "I won't chase you."

"Unfortunately I want words with this girl. She interests me."

"You both know if you kill her you're dead." Jiraiya intoned menacingly his words stated with absolute certainty. Jiraiya waited impatiently for Itachi's next words furiously thinking.

"I'll make you a deal Legendary Sennin." Itachi stated. "A trade. Naruto for this girl."

"Do you really think I'll let you have Naruto?" Jiraiya glowered.

"There's a small lake about a mile north of here. Have Naruto meet us there at noon and we'll let her go." Itachi stated.

"You must be joking." Jiraiya stated in disbelief.

"What choice do you have if you want her to live?" Itachi told Jiraiya. "Put it this way. Unlike now we won't be using this girl as a shield and Naruto will be free to attack us any way he wishes. He can even bring my little brother along for support. But if you show the deals off and she gets a new breathing hole."

Jiraiya began mentally debating. It would be the only way for Sakura to get away but to send Naruto and Sasuke to them? Neither boy stood a chance. Only Sakura could possibly hold them off for a short while but would she be in any condition to fight by noon? Could he be able to actually sneak up on the pair? Jiraiya doubted it as Itachi had the Sharingan. Would Kyuubi once again help Sakura if he knew she was in danger? Jiraiya was unsure after Sakura's summoning earlier as the fox had appeared upset at how Sakura had summoned it. On the other hand, if they did let Sakura go he could attempt to get Naruto back and unlike now they could not threaten to kill the boy. Jiraiya knew from his spies that whatever Akatsuki wanted with the sealed demons they needed the vessels alive.

"What guarantee do I have you'll not just kill her anyway?" Jiraiya asked the obvious question.

"None." Itachi stated. "But what choice do you have?"

"We'll play your game then." Jiraiya growled angrily before turning away. "I'll give you one warning before I go. Killing that girl will seal your fates." Jiraiya warned looking over his shoulder hoping his warning would unsettle the pair.

"Yes you'll hunt us down." Itachi stated in a bored tone.

"Trust me; it's not me you'll need to worry about." Jiraiya sneered walking off.

Once Jiraiya was out of sight Itachi withdrew his sword and re-hid it under his robe.

"What do you make of that?" Kisame asked.

Itachi stared into the distance for a moment before replying. "Interesting."

x X x

Naruto grinned down at Konoha from atop the Hokage monument where his face had just been carved into the rock face. Below him all of the people of Konoha were cheering for him as he threw his arms wide. He done it, he was finally Hokage and everyone was now happy.

"Naruto, you are the greatest." Sasuke cheered from beside him. "I can never measure up to you!"

"Naruto I've finally finished it!" Adult-Sakura stated happily as she bounded over to him holding 'The Ultimate Ramen' in all its shiny glory.

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered while grinning happily at Sakura-Chan's impressive adult body in a very skimpy bikini.

"And now the moment you've been waiting for Naruto!" Adult-Sakura grinned sensually while digging out a chunk of the heavenly food and holding it out for Naruto to taste. The food would sparkle in the sunlight and the scent was the best Naruto had ever smelled.

Just as Naruto was about to taste the food Sakura spoke again.

"Wake up kid!"

Naruto jumped back in shock as adult-Sakura morphed into Jiraiya in the same bikini.

"Sa…Sa…Sakura-chan?" Naruto mumbled stunned while turning green around the gills.

"I said get up!" Jiraiya called again and suddenly Naruto's world span and he was thrown out of bed and landed groggily on his behind.

"Wha?" Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes as he realised it had only been a dream. Naruto stared up sleepily at Jiraiya who was looking hassled.

"Finally. Come on get moving. We don't have much time." Jiraiya stated turning to Sasuke who was standing behind the toad sennin and pulling on his top carefully with only one arm.

"What's this about?" Sasuke asked wondering why the toad sennin had woken them up this early. It was still dark outside.

"Sakura's been taken by Itachi and Kisame." Jiraiya stated seriously to the surprise of both boys.

"WHAT?" both the boys shouted in concert at the news.

"How?" Sasuke asked rushing over to the toad sennin while Naruto sprang into action grabbing his clothes. "And when?"

"Just a couple of minutes ago." Jiraiya told Sasuke as Naruto hopped past with one leg in his pants hopping about while trying to put on multiple clothes at the same time.

"What happened?" Sasuke growled in anger. 'Damn it! Itachi came back for her and ignored me?'

"She had some…bad news and ran off. Itachi must have spotted her and they took her by surprise." Jiraiya stated leaving out exactly what had set her running. In the background Naruto got tangled in his pants and fell over his own feet trying to get dressed.

"So we're going after them?" Sasuke asked not liking the idea after Itachi humiliated him yesterday. Not only that but he knew in his condition he would not be much use. 'Damn it Sakura. You better not die. I need you to teach me that move.'

"Not yet." Jiraiya said ignoring Naruto as the boy was wriggling across the floor into his top instead of unzipping it. "Itachi wants to do a swap. Naruto for Sakura."

"What?" Naruto shouted his head finally popped out of his jumpsuit.

"They're going to be waiting for you guys at noon." Jiraiya said angrily.

"Wait a minute." Sasuke said with a frown. "Just us? What about you?"

"If I show up they'll kill her." Jiraiya stated gravely to the surprise of both boys.

"No!" Naruto growled out. "Then me an' Sasuke have to kick their arses!"

"Idiot!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto making the blond boy blink in surprise. "We. Can't. Beat. Them."

"But…we can't just let them have Sakura-chan! We can't!" Naruto shouted back.

"Easy guys." Jiraiya inserted himself between the two before their shouting match could escalate. "I've got a couple of ideas, but we don't have much time so listen up."

Once Jiraiya was sure he had the pair's attention he continued. "Right, you guys won't stand a chance in a straight on fight. So we're going to have to cheat. They'll kill Sakura if I show up but they didn't say anything about summons."

"You're going to teach us to summon?" Sasuke asked thinking through the possibilities. Summoning would be useful for him at the moment as having a broken arm would limit his abilities.

"Yep." Jiraiya stated whipping the large scroll off his back and spreading it across the floor. "Summoning requires a blood contract before you can even think about summoning. This," Jiraiya indicated the scroll as the two boys kneeled down to examine the scroll. "Is for toad summons, the one's I use. There are others like snakes which Orochimaru uses."

"Are they strong?" Sasuke asked remembering Orochimaru's snake summon from the forest of death.

"Strong? Of course they are." Jiraiya grinned. "Toads are the best. They're one of the few summons that can use weapons and some even have armour. Just make sure you don't summon the big boss Gamabunta. He's a bit of a grumpy git."

"Cool!" Naruto breathed in excitement. "So how do we do it?"

"First thing is to sign the contract here with your blood." Jiraiya stated indicating the next blank spot. "After that, press your fingerprints underneath."

Naruto, eager to learn a new technique quickly bit into his thumb causing it to bleed and proceeded to sign the contract. Sasuke was a little more hesitant and examined the scroll a bit more closely.

"C'mon Sasuke." Naruto grinned elbowing the boy eagerly. "Not scared of a little blood?"

Not one to be out done by Naruto, Sasuke proceeded to repeat the signing process. As he was using his left hand he took a bit longer to sign it.

"There." Sasuke announced once finished and glanced at Naruto challengingly only to have the boy grin back at him happily.

"Cool Sasuke." Naruto's grin seemed to get bigger.

'Is he really that pleased to be doing this with me?' Sasuke wondered.

"That's great guys." Jiraiya stated wrapping the large scroll up once again. "Now to show you the technique. When you want them you produce chakra into the hand you signed the contract with. The hand seals are bore, dog, bird, monkey and sheep. Watch carefully."

Jiraiya then proceeded to move quickly through the hand seals and slammed his palm down onto the floor. "Summoning-no-Jutsu!"

As Jiraiya's palm touched the ground the symbols for the summoning spread out in circle around his hand and suddenly with a cloud of smoke Jiraiya was suddenly standing on top of a rather large toad.

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered at the appearance of the toad. Sasuke took his time to examine the toad still not quite convinced this was as good as Jiraiya made out.

"Now you guys try it." Jiraiya told them.

"Right! I'll go first..." Naruto began but was interrupted as Sasuke shouted out. "Summoning-no-Jutsu!"

Once the smoke cleared Sasuke was standing by another large toad. This one though had two katana strapped to his back. "Hey boss." The toad said looking at Sasuke.

"Heh, these guys are pretty cool after all." Sasuke stated examining the toad's twin swords.

"What're we fighting?" the toad asked.

"Nothing yet." Jiraiya spoke up. "I'm just teaching these guys. Nice first summon Sasuke."

"Oh well." The toad sighed. "See ya around." With that said the toad returned back to where he had come from.

"Wow! I'm gonna summon a really big one!" Naruto grinned and began gathering his chakra.

"Don't summon anything too big Naruto!" Jiraiya said slightly panicky at the thought of having to pay for the damages to the inn if Naruto summoned a big toad as the boy gathered a boatload of chakra into his palm.

"Summoning-no-Jutsu!" Naruto announced slamming his palm onto the floor. There was a tiny puff of smoke and when that cleared Naruto's face dropped into an expression of stunned what the heck.

"..." Naruto stated.

"..." Jiraiya blinked completely stupefied by the sight of a tiny tadpole wiggling on the floor. 'He really does have no talent...'

Sasuke walked over and looked down his face unreadable. "Nice summon Naruto, _really_ big. Itachi will be quaking with fear when he sees that."

"Eh?" Naruto finally snapped out of his surprise. "Okay, this time!"

What followed were three repeat performances before Jiraiya finally took pity on the boy and stopped Naruto.

"Okay..." Jiraiya drawled out. "Naruto you suck at this."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted annoyed at being told that.

"I would never have guessed." Sasuke smirked.

"Take that back!" Naruto growled threateningly shaking a fist at Jiraiya who calmly grabbed the boy's arm.

"You don't have the natural talent for this and we don't have time for you to practice to get better." Jiraiya stated calmly. "We're going to have to try something else with you. Come on guys, we're going to need some space."

x X x

The first thing Sakura felt as she swam back to consciousness was that her jaw was aching badly. The second thing the girl felt was she had her hands tied together behind something rough which was also pressing into her back and she felt extremely weak, like her chakra was being suppressed.

Her dulled mind began to clear as she blinked her eyes to see her legs. As she raised her head she saw a pair of feet with purple painted toenails. Sakura's eyes widened in realisation as her memories of last night came back and she raised her head up fast to meet her capturer's eyes. His Sharingan eyes.

Itachi Uchiha.

"Finally awake I see." Itachi stated while Sakura quickly glanced around. She found she had been tied to the giant sword of Kisame's which had been staked into the ground. Kisame stood slightly behind her with one hand holding onto the swords hilt and was grinning. Absently she noted the dawn and that the sun was just clearing the horizon.

Sakura quickly averted her eyes and looked at the ground. 'Damn it. What did I do to deserve this?' Sakura thought to herself as she remembered what the fox had said the night before her capture.

Itachi crouched down and reached out to take hold of Sakura's chin and raised her head. Sakura flinched and tightly closed her eyes while whipping her head to the side.

"Hmph." Itachi spoke. "What's the matter? It's not like I would waste energy using the Mangekyo Sharingan on you again. Not when you seem to be able to hide from it."

Sakura opened one eye slightly to see if he was telling the truth. Itachi was still crouched and studying her making Sakura feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked when nothing strange happened. She began testing the knots of her bonds and found them tightly done.

Itachi continued to study her before answering. "The Mangekyo Sharingan. No one has ever escaped it and here you are a little girl goes and does the impossible." Itachi leaned closer bringing himself almost nose to nose with Sakura.

"How?" he demanded. Sakura averted her eyes and looked away not answering despite the chills running down her spine from the missing-nin's presence.

"There's something odd about you." Itachi stated at Sakura's continued silence. "It took me a while to figure it out."

"Figure what out?" Sakura asked keeping her eyes averted.

"Your techniques you used. All of them aside from that Happogojuensatsu one, all of your techniques have not used chakra. That's how I did not spot your illusion immediately. Don't expect it to ever work again against me now I know what I'm looking for with you."

"If you've got it all figured out why're you asking me?" Sakura pointed out.

"You've exposed what may be a weakness of the Mangekyo Sharingan. I want to know how you did it." Itachi stated his tone of voice did not actually change yet he seemed to insert more menace into it. "Is it due to your way of chakra usage? A bloodline?"

"A bloodline...I suppose it could be called that." Sakura mumbled her feelings of revulsion at herself resurfaced at the thought of what she was.

"Tell me what you mean by that. Is it or is it not a bloodline?" Itachi demanded reaching out and gripping Sakura's shoulder and used his thumb to find a certain nerve. Sakura sighed as she sank deeper into her self-loathing ignoring Itachi which did not sit well with the missing-nin.

With a slight burst of chakra Itachi pressed down on the nerve causing Sakura to yelp in pain and dragging her back to her current situation. Sakura hissed through her teeth before glaring at Itachi angrily.

"Earlier, you claimed to be a demon vessel, something so crazy I completely dismissed it." Itachi stated putting more pressure onto the nerve and causing Sakura greater pain which she was now struggling to ignore without the use of ki. "But your abilities seem almost inhuman with your strange chakra."

"Fine!" Sakura hissed. "It's not a bloodline but it is unique to me."

"Explain." Itachi intoned twisting his thumb slightly more.

Sakura grit her teeth in pain before answering. "Because of a forbidden technique going wrong I'm a freak."

"Really." Itachi pondered keeping the pressure on and noted the tears that were gathering in the girls eyes. Despite what Itachi thought the tears were not caused by the pain he putting on her but her thoughts about what she was. "What technique and can it be taught to others?" Itachi was not pleased to learn that Sakura's abilities were gained from a technique, especially if the technique gave a person the ability to avoid the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"The Cat Fist." Sakura stated and at Itachi's look she pre-empted his next question. "A supposed unbeatable fighting style, but the training usually kills or drives the victim insane."

"But you survived and are not insane." Itachi stated releasing Sakura's shoulder which began throbbing from the previously applied pressure.

"I got unlucky." Sakura growled and lowered her head.

"Who knows how to teach this Cat Fist?" Itachi asked.

Sakura raised her head and met the missing-nin's eyes and this time she held them and gave him her best chilling glare. "Anyone who knew how to teach it is long dead."

x X x

"Okay guys, we'll go over what tactics you can try against them." Jiraiya stated as he led Naruto and Sasuke out of the city. "Sasuke, as you're already hurt you need to stay back and let the toads fight for you."

Sasuke nodded. He did not like the idea much but knew it was the only way at the moment.

"Naruto you're going to have to be the main attacker. I would suggest using your shadow clones. Even the with the Sharingan you can't tell shadow clones from the real body as you divide chakra evenly between them."

"Right!" Naruto nodded still slightly upset at not getting the summoning technique down. Sasuke was surprised at the information that even the Sharingan could not tell the difference between shadow clones.

"Also even if the clones get caught in any of Itachi's genjutsu it won't matter and he'll have wasted chakra. You have to avoid looking into his eyes." Jiraiya stated. "Now at no time do you try and actually try and take them down. You need to try and rescue Sakura and then get out of there fast. Understood?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded.

"I guess." Sasuke stated slowly.

"If they let Sakura go straight away you guys need to let me know and I'll come running to help. If they do that, _all_ of you head towards me as quickly as you can."

"How will we be able to let you know Sakura's been released?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll be near enough to keep an eye on your aura's but not close enough for Itachi and Kisame to think I'm there. If she's released use your aura to let me know." Jiraiya stated. "Now, if things go bad from the start...Naruto you'll have to use the fox's chakra and try to hold them off."

"Right!" Naruto grinned but his face fell almost immediately. "But I don't know how."

"I know from reading Kakashi's reports you've done it before." Jiraiya stated crouching down and grabbing Naruto's cheeks and began tugging them in random directions much to Naruto's chagrin. "You seem at the moment to only be able to pull the fox's chakra out when you're under extreme stress. In this battle I think you'll have no problem with that."

"Really?" Naruto mumbled rubbing his abused cheeks once Jiraiya released them.

'So Naruto can use the fox's powers.' Sasuke thought to himself. 'Will Naruto be able to actually kill Itachi with that sort of power? He didn't manage too well against Orochimaru in the forest even with the fox's power.'

"During the second exam Naruto must have tapped the fox's power. But he still got taken out by Orochimaru easily." Sasuke voiced his thoughts and Naruto blinked as he remembered that situation. "And Kakashi said my brother beat Orochimaru."

"Don't worry too much about that." Jiraiya told them. "Orochimaru is capable of using sealing techniques and used that to prevent Naruto from using the fox's power. That's what I removed back at the baths when I taught you guys water walking. I don't think Itachi can do that."

'I thought so.' Sasuke thought and out loud said. "Oh."

"The best thing you guys can do against Itachi is use a distraction to get behind him where the Sharingan can't see. Sounds easy but he won't fall for tricks easily. The other guy Kisame uses water based jutsu and I think that's the reason they chose to use the lake, they've picked a battleground that favours him. If what I think is right, Kisame will probably be doing the fighting with Itachi holding Sakura." Jiraiya stated seriously. "They want you alive Naruto, but I won't put it past them to try and hurt you. Sasuke, if it looks bad run. You can always try to take Itachi down at a later date once you've improved. Listen, I really don't want to send you guys into this. There's no way you're ready to face these two and I think Sakura would understand if you don't actually go."

"No way am I not going." Naruto growled his eyes deadly serious. "Sakura's part of our team. I won't let her down."

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto. "You're far braver than me then." Turning to Sasuke Jiraiya waited for whatever Sasuke would say.

"We need to rescue her." Sasuke stated. "She still has to teach me her techniques."

x X x

"What do you think? A technique that is able to escape your Mangekyo Sharingan and is capable of being taught." Kisame asked Itachi as the pair stood out of hearing range of the bound girl. Kisame had created and left a water-clone with Samehada to watch Sakura and make sure she could not escape.

"I have never heard of this Cat Fist, yet she seems to be speaking the truth." Itachi stated with a glance at the girl.

"Which part?" Kisame asked.

"The part that anyone aside from herself that knows this technique is dead." Itachi spoke with a calm certainty. "Only she knows how it works. Her eyes told the truth."

"Weird." Kisame pondered. "Are we really going to let her go if they show?"

"No. She could become a threat to me later." Itachi stated. "Once we have Naruto we kill her."

x X x

"We will save her." Naruto said speaking his thoughts out loud as the pair made their way towards the lake. The dirt path they were following was overgrown and rutted; obviously it did not receive much travel to keep it clean of plant life.

Sasuke had remained quiet for most of the journey looked out the corner of his eyes at Naruto. The blond boy was more focused than Sasuke had ever seen him before. His usual wild and unfocused energy was being held tightly and like a wound spring he was ready to spring into action in an instant. Quite the contrast to Naruto's usual behaviour and Sasuke examined him closely for signs of the fox's power.

As far as Sasuke could tell Naruto was not accessing the fox's chakra. In spite of appearances Sasuke was worried, unless Naruto began accessing the fox's chakra he did not think they would have much chance against Itachi and his friend. With his arm being broken he would not be much use in this fight, and even with Jiraiya's assurances that he would be nearby Sasuke knew the toad sennin would not be able to get to them instantly. Not from the distance he would have to keep, preventing them from sensing him.

Sasuke did agree with Naruto on one thing. They needed to rescue Sakura. He needed to learn her techniques. He also wanted to see what Naruto could really do with fox's power.

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke for the first time since leaving Jiraiya causing Naruto to whip his head around to look at Sasuke questioningly. "There's no way we can win."

"What? Sasuke you're the last person I'd thought to say stupid stuff like that!" Naruto exclaimed shocked. "We can win! We have to win!"

"Idiot." Sasuke sighed. "I thought I would be able to stand up to Itachi by now, but look at me." Sasuke waved at his slinged arm. "He beat me as easy as last time."

"Yeah but you've got the cool summons now." Naruto grinned.

"I still don't think they'll be enough to help us much." Sasuke stated causing Naruto's grin to falter. "The only way I can see is for you to use the fox's power like you've done before and hope it evens the odds."

"If that's what it takes." Naruto growled his face setting in determination as the lake came into view. The lake itself was not very large at all barely able to be called a lake rather than a pond. A tatty wooden pier that had seen better days was built at the end of the dirt path. Reeds stuck out of the slightly murky water by the lake's banks. The lake was fed by a slow moving stream and due to the slow flow this gave the water its murky appearance.

"Where are they?" Naruto asked looking around and Sasuke lightly tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the lake.

"They're on the lake."

Naruto looked out across the lake and saw them. Itachi and Kisame stood in the centre of the lake waiting for them. Sakura was still bound to Kisame's sword and the big shark-man was holding the sword with one hand keeping the tip above the water while Sakura hung from it.

"Bastards." Naruto growled at seeing Sakura hanging limply. "Is she okay?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes while activating the Sharingan. The Sharingan may not see chakra flows as well as a Byakugan user could but it was able to be used to see chakra. Sakura's chakra was low but at least she was alive.

"She's alive. Weak but alive." Sasuke stated before stepping forward onto the wooden pier. "Come on."

"Well, they're here." Kisame grinned. "Oooh look at that. They might have some talent after all." Kisame chuckled as the two boys dropped off the pier onto the water and began walking towards them.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked as she could not quite see from where Kisame was holding her. With a nod from Itachi, Kisame turned his sword around enough so Sakura was facing the two approaching boys and her eyes widened in shock.

"Your friends have come to free you." Itachi informed Sakura his eyes not leaving the approaching pair.

"What?" Sakura blanched knowing Naruto and Sasuke would not beat these two. "Where's Jiraiya?"

"Heh." Kisame grinned.

"He'll be around. Somewhere out of sight of us." Itachi stated knowing that the toad sennin would not be too far away and was probably waiting for the right moment to appear. It did not matter though, once they had Naruto they would be leaving.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Run! Don't bother about me!" Sakura shouted. 'I don't need more deaths on my conscious!'

"No way! We're a team remember!" Naruto shouted. Pointing at Kisame the blond boy continued. "You guys better let her go or we'll make you regret this."

"How touching." Kisame chuckled.

"We're here Itachi!" Sasuke growled. "As you wanted. Let Sakura go."

"Not quite yet, little brother." Itachi stated and indicated for Kisame to untie Sakura. While Kisame was untying the girl from his sword Itachi spoke again. "We'll let her go if you can amuse my partner here for a little while. Kisame gets bored easily."

"Very true." Kisame grinned and lifted Sakura by the back of her top with his free hand. Sakura's hands were still tied behind her back and she was roughly passed over to Itachi who caught the girl by one arm and prevented her from dropping through the water. Once Itachi had Sakura held securely Kisame whipped his sword around until it rested against his shoulder where he proceeded to bounce it lightly like you would a baseball bat.

"Afraid to face us then Itachi." Sasuke growled as his brother backed away with Sakura who struggled weakly against her capturer.

"You always did think too highly of yourself Sasuke." Itachi stated angering Sasuke but the boy managed to keep himself from attacking.

"You guys better be fun." Kisame stated placing himself in front of Itachi so they would have to look at him. "I've been itching for a good fight."

Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto who spotted the signal and with a roar he charged the shark-man. Kisame's grin grew even wider at the mad charge Naruto was doing. 'Too predicable.'

Naruto launched himself into the air and threw three shuriken spinning towards Kisame's face only to have the large man block them easily with his huge sword. As Naruto landed Kisame calmly swung his sword at the boy's legs in an attempt to knock him flying which Naruto leapt over easily. 'Not too shabby for a gennin.' Kisame thought to himself as he was only playing with the boy.

While Naruto was in the air Sasuke slowly and painfully with his splinted arm went through the hand seals for the Gokakyu-no-Jutsu and with a deep breath released the built-up chakra into a blazing fireball.

Kisame glanced over as the ball of flame shot at him and grinned. 'The Uchiha fire techniques. Just like Itachi.' With a simple release of chakra the shark-man caused the water in front of himself to swell up into a wave and the fireball smashed into that harmlessly steam rising from the impact. Behind him Naruto shot forward pulling out a kunai and thrusting it at the shark-man's back.

Kisame spun around quickly and swiped his sword right through Naruto who poofed out of existence. Kisame blinked and his face showed his surprise.

"A shadow clone?" Kisame stated. "He can actually use that technique?"

As Kisame stared the water around him erupted as five Naruto's burst from it and dived screaming at Kisame. The shark-man reacted quickly and swung his sword around and hit all but one of the Naruto's which landed next to Kisame and attacked with a kunai. Kisame dodged around the attack easily and just as he was about to hit what must have been the real Naruto a shadow blocked out the light behind him.

Looking up in time he saw Sasuke land on his shoulder with a shout of "Summoning-no-Jutsu!"

"What the?" Kisame stated as his vision was suddenly blotted out as a gigantic toad appeared above him and dropped onto the water flattening the shark-man.

Sasuke blinked in surprise as he stood looking down from the toad's head. He had expected the same toad but then remembered Jiraiya stated that the more chakra used the more powerful the summon, and he had used maybe a tad too much but the result was better than he expected.

"Coooool!" Naruto grinned up at the toad. It must have been two stories tall.

Sakura blinked in surprise at what Sasuke had just done. That was one bigass toad.

"Jiraiya must be teaching them." Itachi stated as Kisame rose out of the water beside him. "That looked painful Kisame."

"He just dropped a giant freaking frog on my head." Kisame growled angrily embarrassed by this turn of events. "That's it! No more playing around."

"It's a toad." Itachi stated.

"What?"

"A toad. Not a frog."

"I don't care if it was a three headed monkey. I'm gonna hurt them!" Kisame announced gathering his chakra. The water around Kisame's feet bubbled and gathered, flowing upwards and raising Kisame high into the air to come level with Sasuke on top of the toad's head.

"You are going down brat." Kisame stated pointing his sword towards Sasuke.

"Hey, errr toad. Attack him." Sasuke asked not knowing the toad's name.

"Sure thing." The giant toad rumbled and began to spit large globules of toad oil at Kisame. Kisame snarled and redirected his water fountain ride out of the way of the oil. Behind the toad more water began gathering and rose up around the toad and Sasuke walling them in.

"Hold on." The giant toad announced as he tensed his legs and leapt up to escape the water trap. At the same time Kisame also jumped into the air and swung his sword at the toad catching it and causing the toad to be dispelled from the blow leaving Sasuke to fall down towards the now collapsing water walls.

"Crap!" Sasuke shouted before being submerged under the falling water.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted not seeing the water behind him form a roughly human shape until it solidified and became a copy of Kisame.

"Suiro-no-Jutsu" the water-clone announced and Naruto found himself sealed up in a bubble of solid water unable to move much or breath. "Got you."

By this time Sasuke's head broke the surface and he took a large gulp of air. As he raised himself out of the water he caught sight of Naruto sealed in a water prison.

"Damn!" Sasuke growled as Naruto began making gestures at him.

"Sasuke behind you!" Sakura shouted out but it was too late. Another of Kisame's water-clones appeared behind Sasuke and repeated the same capture on Sasuke.

"Easy." Kisame grinned as he walked over to Itachi.

"Let them go!" Sakura growled.

"After we've gone to the trouble of setting this up?" Kisame laughed at the girl.

"So now what?" Sakura glared.

"Now we get rid of you." Itachi stated. "I can't have anyone running around who can escape the Mangekyo Sharingan. Much less someone who can teach this technique."

"What?" Sakura shouted. "I would never even think of…ooof!"

Sakura's protests were silenced as Itachi slammed a fist into her gut blasting the air from her lungs before letting go of her to grab one of the girl's ankles. Itachi lifted the girl up above his head easily and like you would crack a whip slammed Sakura face first into the lake's surface before landing another blow between her shoulder blades sending the girl torpedoing under the water down towards the lake's bed.

If they could have both the entrapped boys would have shouted at the girl's treatment.

"Make sure she's finished." Itachi told Kisame who grinned and placed his hand against the water.

"Suiton: Goshokuzame!"

As Sakura drifted downwards she was vaguely aware through the pain that something was heading towards her. Something slammed into her back sending her spinning wildly. In her weakened state all she could do was watch as what appeared to be a second shark formed from chakra and water dived at her. This one hit again. Then another. The fourth one caught her bound wrists and ripped the ropes and cut her arms. A fifth one slammed into her gut finally smashing her against the lake bed.

She hurt all over now and felt so tired and weak as she watched the five sharks begin to circle above her and knew it was only a matter of time before they attacked again. Sakura let her head turn to the side and absently acknowledged that there was a broken cart next to her.

'I guess this is it. I'm gonna die again...' Sakura thought to herself. 'Maybe it's better if I do.'

'What are you doing?' a voice in her head shouted out. A familiar voice that had been with her since she could remember, Inner-Sakura.

'Dying.' Sakura answered almost laughing deliriously.

'Stop that! You don't give in! Ever! Get back up there and beat em!' Inner-Sakura shouted. Sakura imagined Inner-Sakura was pulling on her hair in frustration.

'Why? I'm a body stealing monster. I deserve to die.'

'No you're not!'

'But the fox said so and he couldn't lie to me.' Sakura stated sadly.

'Aaaargh!' Inner-Sakura yelled. 'Listen to me! The fox did not lie but it doesn't know everything. You did not steal anyone's body. You are Sakura! I made sure of that.'

Sakura blinked in surprise. 'Wh...what do you mean?' and suddenly a crazy thought entered her head. 'Ranma?'

'Kinda.'

'What? But how we merged?' Sakura asked.

'Not quite. I'm the piece of Ranma that he left to look after whoever he would become after his death. Ranma figured out what he had become long before the fox even suspected it. I'm a piece of him that was made to make sure he would not destroy an innocent life when he reformed. He knew his time had passed and I was there to seal his memories away so you could have a normal life.' Inner-Sakura told Sakura. 'But then the cursed seal happened breaking the barrier and allowed Ranma's memories to mix with your own. People weren't meant to have two sets of memories and you created a second personality to hold Ranma's memories. Why do you think you began sharing experiences once you began swapping with each other?'

'I...then I'm not a...'

'A body stealing monster? No.' Inner-Sakura stated. 'NOW GET BACK THERE AND HELP YOUR FRIENDS!!'

The whole exchange must have barely taken a second and as Sakura shook her head to clear it she saw the first of the five sharks was now heading towards her. Quickly glancing around, she spotted one of the broken cart's wheels was lying next to her.

Sakura reached over and grabbed the wheel and pulled it in front of herself just as the shark smashed into it smashing out the spokes and snapping at her face. Sakura used all of her remaining strength just to hold the shark back.

'It's no use! I'm not strong enough.'

'Sakura...Use the wheel.' Inner-Sakura stated sagely.

'What?'

'It's a circle girl.'

'Of course a circle! The Happogojuensatsu uses a circle to create the vacuum to suck chakra!' Sakura grinned as she focused and used the technique. The shark was instantly disintegrated as Sakura absorbed the chakra that was holding it together. The other sharks suffered the same fate as the girl eagerly absorbed them too and her body adjusted to the new levels of chakra.

On the lake surface Kisame blinked in surprise as the chakra holding the sharks together vanished.

"What the hell?" the shark-man stated before suddenly he felt something pulling at his chakra and it was not his sword. Itachi's eyes widened as he too felt it. Not as strong as last time but it was unmistakable.

"The girl is using that chakra absorbing technique again! Move!" Itachi warned leaping out of the affected zone. Kisame followed Itachi's lead but this left Sasuke, Naruto and the two water-clones still affected.

The two clones suddenly wobbled before bursting into water as the chakra holding them together vanished. The water prisons dropped apart but the two boys had no time to cheer as their chakra was also sucked out.

"Crap!" Sasuke stated in shock at the foreign feeling. Naruto next to him suddenly popped out of existence. He had been another shadow clone.

x X x

The real Naruto blinked as the shadow-clone's memories slammed into his head and he got the memories of what had happened.

"Quick Jiraiya! They've just tried to kill Sakura but she's using the chakra sucking trick again!" Naruto shouted.

"Right!" Jiraiya stated next to Naruto on the large toad's head. "You heard him. Let's go!"

"Sure thing!" the toad stated leaping in the direction of the lake.

Jiraiya grinned again surprised at Naruto's cunning. Using all shadow clones and staying behind allowed him to tell Jiraiya exactly when the girl had been freed. Using the toad to travel they would get there in a minute or so.

x X x

Itachi and Kisame watched from their safe distance away as the water around Sasuke started to spin dragging the now chakra depleted boy in circles. Suddenly the water around him erupted upwards forming into the shape of a dragon, its body made from the water.

The water-dragon rose into the air and on the top of its head stood Sakura in her adult form helping Sasuke to stand, one of his arms draped over her shoulders.

"What the hell did you do?" Sasuke stared down in wonder.

"You remember the whirlwind I used on you back during the exam?" Sakura grinned happily. "Well as the water is cold I generated the heat this time and used the reverse movement to create this version. As I was underwater instead of being made from air it was created from the water. Cool eh."

"Y...yeah..." Sasuke stated stunned at the power Sakura had thrown around to make this.

"Looks like its stopping." Sakura stated as the dragon began to fall apart. "Sorry 'bout sucking your chakra. Hold on Sasuke."

The pair dropped down along with the remaining water which rained down on the lake refilling the water that had been removed by the technique. Sakura landed lightly and let Sasuke stand on his own. The boy managed as he had recovered enough chakra to waterwalk.

"Now to teach these jokers a lesson." Sakura growled slamming her fist into a palm. "It's payback time."

"Did you see that?" Kisame asked surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes." Itachi frowned. "And it was not held together with chakra."

"What?" Kisame gaped. "But you need to use chakra to hold water in a shape."

"I know. This girl does the impossible again." Itachi stated trying to puzzle her abilities out.

"Looks like she wants a fight." Kisame grinned. "I'll give her a fight. Suiton: Suikodan-no-Jutsu!"

As Kisame shouted the attack name out another shark made from chakra and water formed in front of him before shooting rapidly at the now adult girl.

"Sakura! I don't have the energy to jump!" Sasuke warned the girl in panic at the rapidly approaching shark water bullet.

"Don't worry. I'm going to shock him this time. He likes sharks, well two can play that game!" Sakura stated placing her palms together and fingers pointed palmwards and then moved her hands to rest by her right hip. "Shark Fist!"

As Sakura threw her palms towards the approaching shark and another one formed in the same manner in front of Sakura's hands and shot forward. Sakura's shark was actually bigger and swallowed Kisame's attack whole and the two sharks exploded into droplets and rained down onto the lake.

"..." Kisame stared dumbfounded for a second. "She knows water-jutsu's!"

Itachi's frown grew as he realised the battlefield they had chosen for their advantage would no longer give them one. Not only that, but the annoying toad sennin was fast approaching.

"Kisame, retreat for now. Jiraiya's approaching." Itachi stated. "We can't take her with him as well."

"Damn that guy!" Kisame growled in annoyance before the pair ran for it.

"They're getting away." Sasuke shouted but Sakura calmly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let them." Sakura stated. "I didn't get a lot of chakra from their techniques and they got away before I could drain much off them. Don't worry, we'll get them next time. All of us, together."

Sasuke stared at the retreating back of his brother and suddenly felt slightly guilty at Sakura's words. 'All of us, together...'

Chapter 17 – Back at the Ranch

Kakashi sighed as he looked around his cell for the hundredth time. Time sure passed by slowly when you had nothing to do. He had been in the featureless cell for two days now, stripped of any weapons and the guards had even taken his prized book away. At least the cell had a bed.

It had taken them hours to find him lying paralyzed on the hospital room floor with only corpses of the dead ANBU's for company. Of course he had been suspected as the one to have killed them and that was why he was still sitting in this cell. Whatever Ranma had done to him had baffled even the doctors who specialised in pressure-points and he had had to wait for the effects to wear off naturally.

To pass the time he had tried to amuse himself with finding a method to escape the cell. Despite appearances the cells were state of the art ninja holding ones, heavily warded with chakra to prevent escapes through special techniques. However Kakashi had discovered one weakness that he would be writing up in a report for the Hokage.

There was a click as the lock of the cell door was unlocked and the door swung open with a loud creak. The door itself was actually practically new and Kakashi knew the hinges were well oiled, so the door was designed to make that noise, probably to prevent anyone sneaking out if they actually managed to pick the lock.

Kakashi idly watched as the ANBU guard stepped into the cell and looked his way. The guard was dressed as per normal ANBU standards, the normal dark blue almost black ninja gear with the ends of sleeves and pants taped up to prevent loose flaps getting in the way, the body amour and the ANBU animal mask. This one wore the boar mask.

"Your story's been verified Kakashi, seems you're free to go." The ANBU stated holding out Kakashi's equipment. Kakashi sighed and stood up, rolled his shoulders and popped the joints in his back before walking over to collect his effects.

"Also the Hokage wants to speak with you immediately." The ANBU continued while Kakashi hid his weapons and such on his person.

"Hmmmm?" Kakashi drawled with a grin that was hidden behind his mask. "I wonder what he wants."

"Well the order was kind of specific in that you were wanted yesterday. You probably should turn up on time for once." The ANBU joked as Kakashi's attitude to arriving on time was as legendary as his copying skills.

"What?" the ANBU guard asked as Kakashi held his hand out waiting for something.

"My book please."

"Oh…ehehehe sorry." The guard laughed nervously handing Kakashi's special book to him. "Damn and it was getting good to."

"Well I better be off then." Kakashi waved once before he poofed out of existence revealing he had actually been a shadow-clone.

"Sonofa…" the guard stated shocked and started to panic as he realised that not noticing something like that was going to get him reprimanded.

x X x

"Here's my report and recommendations on the quality of our holding cells." Kakashi grinned as he handed the report he had typed up while his shadow-clone had sat in the cell to Sarutobi.

"Only you Kakashi…" Sarutobi sighed as he flicked through the report quickly.

"I got bored. Sorry."

"Yes, well." Sarutobi stated placing the report on top of the pile he had currently covering every available free space on his desk. Most of them were to do with Naruto's daring escape and following antics and were mainly lots of complaints and requests for compensation. "Are you aware of all the current events?"

"Sorry, no." Kakashi replied growing more serious. "I was in hiding."

"Then I'll run the main highlights past you. Hayate has been killed. His body was found early this morning." Sarutobi stated leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. "Since you informed us of Kabuto's deception I had Hayate trailing him. Unfortunately it seems he was discovered."

"Worrying. That means there's something big enough going on that they would kill to keep it hidden."

"True." Sarutobi stated. "Now, onto Naruto and Sakura. They both have escaped the village two days ago. All this," Sarutobi indicated the paperwork. "Is the result of Naruto causing a diversion while they got out."

Kakashi picked up one of the reports and flicked it open and had to pause. A chuckle escaped the copy ninja as he looked at the photo's inside. "He painted the Hyuga main house day-glow orange. How'd he manage that?"

"Multiple passes with ten or so shadow clones. He only got half of the building before the house members took them down." Sarutobi told Kakashi as the copy ninja replaced the report and picked up another.

"You almost sound disappointed." Kakashi grinned and his eyes widened before chuckling again and he put that report down to. "My, my. Interesting to see what he did to the Hokage monument. Although I don't think the purple eye shadow suits you Hokage-sama."

"I would be pleased if you don't speak about that." Sarutobi sent a chilling look at Kakashi that would of frozen lesser men.

"Hehehe…" Kakashi laugh nervously before changing the subject slightly. "I bet the council is fuming at a mere gennin embarrassing an entire hidden village."

"Yes, that day is rapidly becoming known as 'The Day Not to Be Spoken About'." Sarutobi smiled. "Although once word spreads it may damage our business opportunities." Sarutobi's brow wrinkled slightly as he continued. "The council wanted the pair to be listed as S-Rank missing-nin in the bingo books, probably to get rid of them quicker. I put my foot down and managed to get them down ranked to A-Rank, bloody fools are trying their best to have them eliminated. On a side note, Jiraiya is looking after them."

"Jiraiya? That's good then." Kakashi stated feeling relived that Naruto and Sakura would be looked after. "It'll be interesting to see the council's faces when Jiraiya sends back the hunter-nin team."

"True. But there is a more pressing reason Jiraiya is looking after them. He has discovered that there is an organisation after the demon vessels and they apparently have captured some already. Naruto is a target for them."

"After demon vessels?" Kakashi frowned. "What do they want with them?"

"Unknown but it can not be good." Sarutobi stated. "The worst part is that all members of this organisation are S-Rank missing-nin. I fear even Jiraiya won't be able to keep them safe alone."

"S-Rank…" Kakashi repeated. "And they're after Naruto?"

"It appears that way. Which is why I've asked Jiraiya to find Tsunade and to get her help."

Kakashi remained silent for a while and Sarutobi waited for the copy-ninja to speak. "S-Rank missin-nin after Naruto. Orochimaru after Sasuke and Sakura. This is not looking good. I'm going to have my work cut out for me looking after and training Sasuke."

"About that," Sarutobi said slowly causing Kakashi to watch him intently. "It would appear Sasuke has taken off after them."

"What?" Kakashi said his voice raised and his eye's widened in surprise at this news. "I never expected Sasuke to actually go with them. He's surprised me. I guess he must have listened to my lessons on teamwork."

"The council want Sasuke brought back as he's the only surviving Uchiha." Sarutobi leaned forward placing his elbows on the desk and one hand on top of the other. "I want you to find him."

"And bring him back?" Kakashi asked. "What if he doesn't want to?"

"My orders are to find and look after Sasuke." Sarutobi stated. "What you do after I'll leave to your own prerogative."

"Understood." Kakashi answered knowing what Sarutobi was suggesting.

"One final bit of information for you. Whatever Ranma taught Lee that day worked. The boy has fully recovered completely."

x X x

"Hi, I'm here to see Choji Akimichi please." Ino Yamanaka cheerily announced to the hospital receptionist. The blond pony-tailed girl was carrying a basket full of food for Choji as a get well present after being thoroughly beaten by that Sound-nin Dosu in the preliminaries. She also had a flower arrangement she had put together for him as well.

"He's in room five, just down the hallway there." The receptionist replied indicating the direction to go. "There's a boy already visiting him."

"Black hair, tied up and looked bored?" Ino asked guessing who it would be.

"Hmmm yes that's the boy."

"Shikamaru." Ino grinned and waved as she walked off. "Thank you."

She did not see the red haired boy push open the hospital doors and enter quietly behind her.

Gaara walked up to the receptionist's desk quietly and waited patiently for the woman to notice him.

"Oh, sorry I did not hear you enter." The receptionist apologised wondering just when this kid with the creepy eyes had appeared. "Are you here to visit someone?"

Gaara stood arms crossed and looked up at the woman with his head silently bowed giving him a menacing look. "Yes. There was a boy brought in here recently. He would have had serious injuries. His arm and leg crushed. I'd like to visit him."

"Oh, that boy. I'm sorry you've just missed him. He was discharged this morning." The receptionist told Gaara to the boy's surprise. "Yes it was amazing. The doctors are calling it a miracle."

"Excuse me?" Gaara asked slowly his eyes narrowing. "A miracle?"

"Oh yes, it's the talk of the hospital. They didn't expect him to ever recover properly and in the last two days his injuries have completely vanished. He claimed it was hard work and something a girl called Ranma taught him."

"The horse…" Gaara breathed out surprise registering on his face. "Taught him."

"Horse? Oh the girl's name." the receptionist laughed. "Do you know her?"

Gaara had already turned around and was walking away but he did answer. "I know of him." If anyone who knew Gaara saw the boy's face at the moment they would have ran for their lives at the look of intense anger and a hint of fear in his eyes. 'The Horse is teaching…This _must_ be stopped.'

x X x

"Hi guys!" Ino burst into the run full of cheerfulness much to Shikamaru's dismay.

"There goes the peace." Shikamaru complained half-heartedly, not really meaning it.

"Quiet you." Ino stated lightly bumping her basket of food against Shikamaru's head. "Guess what I've bought you Choji."

"Real foood!" Choji sat up and smiled elated at the thought of some real food and not the hospital stuff. He reached out for the basket greedily snatching it from Ino's hands and immediately began digging in.

"Gah!" Ino exclaimed. "Awww c'mon don't eat it all in one go!"

"This is great!" Choji exclaimed though mouthfuls.

"Did you expect anything less Ino?" Shikamaru asked lazily rubbing a finger in one ear.

"He could at least taste it you know. I spent some time getting it all ready." Ino moaned before whipping the flowers up. "I brought you some flowers too."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, you can't eat them." Choji agreed with his best friend.

"Gah!!! Boys!" Ino glared which was promptly ignored as the pair were used to such displays. With a sigh she walked over to the drawers by Choji's bed and placed the flowers down. Grabbing a nearby plastic chair she pulled it over to sit beside Shikamaru. By this time Choji was shaking the basket upside-down in a vain hope that more food would fall out.

"So how you doing Choji?" Ino asked.

"Better now I've had real food." The boy grinned. Choji had not been hurt much but the doctors had wanted the keep him under observation.

"Did you guys hear what happened with Naruto?" Ino asked her teammates as she still did not believe it.

"Yeah." Shikamaru stated with a frown. "It's troublesome."

"What happened?" Choji asked. He had not heard anything being stuck in bed the whole time.

"It's crazy." Ino stated. "I still can't believe what they've told us. I mean come on this was Naruto and Sakura they're talking about."

"Did you see the damage?" Shikamaru asked.

"What? What? What?" Choji asked wondering exactly what the pair were talking about.

"Oops. Sorry Choji, I thought you would have heard." Ino apologised.

"Apparently Sakura and Naruto went crazy and left a trail of destruction from the Hokage tower right to the market district." Shikamaru told Choji who stared in disbelief. "At least five squads of ANBU and the Hokage himself had to get involved to stop them."

"No way." Choji breathed.

"I know." Shikamaru agreed. "I've seen the damage though and it's real and they're still repairing it now. I wouldn't have believed it if you told me but we all saw what Sakura did in the forest of death."

Both Choji and Ino shuddered at the brutality the pink-haired girl had shown in dispatching the sound-nin.

"Then what she did to Sasuke during the preliminaries." Shikamaru continued. "Something happened to her in the forest, of that I'm sure. But I don't know what could make someone so powerful is such a short time."

"You've been thinking about this haven't you?" Ino asked surprised Shikamaru would be putting effort into solving this mystery.

"Yeah and it doesn't make any sense. Naruto as well, I mean we all knew he was useless at most things but he still managed to get passed despite being failed at school. Why would he get a second chance to pass when no one else does?"

"Maybe someone is looking after him." Choji said looking thoughtful.

"But who?" Shikamaru asked. "He's an orphan and lived alone. Another odd thing is we all had our parents tell us to stay away from him. The older generation didn't like him for some reason. It's almost like they knew something like this would happen with him. It's not just troublesome it's weird too."

"I overheard Asuma talking earlier." Ino stated quietly. "I went looking for you Shikamaru but you weren't there but he was talking about Naruto and Sakura. He was saying that they've run away together and the pranks were a distraction. He almost sounded impressed."

"Pranks?" Choji asked. "Naruto's been pranking again as well?"

"Yeah." Ino stated. "Really big ones as well. The village is either covered in paint or toilet paper."

"I'll agree with that. It was all just a distraction." Shikamaru said leaning back in the chair arm's behind his head. "But for what reason would Sakura and Naruto fight then run away together?"

"Maybe forehead was secretly in love with him and her parents hate him so they ran away together." Ino stated trying to put a romantic spin on it.

"Right." Shikamaru drawled. "Did you hear anything else interesting when you spied on Asuma?"

"I did not spy!" Ino growled. "But he did say Lee was at the tower that day for some training from someone called Ranma."

"Ranma?" Shikamaru asked wondering who that was.

"Lee?" Choji asked. "His sensei took him to see someone a few days ago. I've overheard the doctors say he's recovered."

"Really?" Both Shikamaru and Ino asked at the same time. They both saw what had been done to the boy during the preliminaries and both had heard he would probably never recover.

"Something else that does not add up." Shikamaru frowned. "He's here in the hospital right?"

"No." Choji told them. "He left earlier. He popped in for a bit to see me before leaving."

"Really. Was he normal?" Shikamaru asked.

"Err normal for Lee I guess." Choji grinned and shrugged.

"Hey Ino, fancy a little detective work?" Shikamaru asked standing up slowly.

x X x

"He's recovered?" Kakashi asked in surprise. "Completely?"

"Completely." Sarutobi stated calmly. "The doctors are stunned and have been running tests on him since last night. To recover from such injuries should be almost impossible without specialist surgery, let alone to do it within two days after being taught how to focus his 'ki'." Sarutobi paused at the strange word still unsure how only a piece of chakra could be used so spectacularly. "They've been asking me to let them speak with Ranma about the healing technique she showed Lee."

"Did you inform them of the council's decision?"

"Oh yes." Sarutobi smiled. "They are quite upset that Ranma/Sakura has been chased out the village. As one of them said, with a healing technique as powerful as this you could forgive anyone."

"I see." Kakashi grinned too. "You'll be rubbing that fact in the council's face then."

"Indeed I will. Just imagine if another shinobi war broke out and you had this technique. Shinobi who are injured badly yet survive due to immediate medic-nin attention could be back in the fight within two days time and at full strength, instead of lain up in bed for weeks. As you know some medic-nin techniques can heal as quickly but still leave both the healer and the one being healed drained and also some of the more powerful healing techniques cause cellular aging and should only be used as a last resort. The test results on Lee show no such cellular damage which is normally expected with such quick healing techniques. It boggles the mind."

"A very powerful ability." Kakashi said thoughtfully looking up towards the ceiling and rubbing his chin absently. "And I would think that even the council will see the danger of letting it fall into an enemies hands."

"I have the feeling we won't be easily able to convince Ranma to come back to us even if I get her pardoned." Sarutobi sighed.

"I doubt she would abandon Naruto. Ranma does not seem the type. She did not even seem to hold much of a grudge against Sasuke even after he upset Sakura only wanting him to apologise. Can't Lee teach the technique now?" Kakashi pondered.

"Lee has tried explaining what he is doing but does not understand how to explain it himself. The problem is that he could never really use chakra and this is using ki as Ranma calls it, something none of us have experience in. Basically Lee is copying what Ranma showed him when she moved his ki around for him. He can copy it but doesn't understand how or why it works. We need Ranma to explain the ins and outs of these techniques." Sarutobi explained with a sigh.

"And who knows how many other techniques she knows." Kakashi stated.

"Very true. When you find Sasuke and them, try your best to get her to teach you at least the very basics." Sarutobi said while adjusting his chair to be slightly more comfortable. "Try to be discrete about it. I'll be doing my best to have the council's decision overturned, but they are stubborn."

x X x

"Amazing Lee!" Gai cheered his student on as Lee ran through his normal training routine and in record time. Gai had been unsure if letting Lee train again so soon after recovering was a good idea but the boy had claimed he was ready. Gai now had no misgivings at letting Lee loose as the boy had demonstrated he was better than ever. Whatever Ranma had shown him had worked. Boy had it worked.

"Yosh!" Lee cheered with one thumb raised.

"I can't believe you've recovered and got faster." Gai stated walking over with his stopwatch and showed it to Lee who cheered again.

"Yosh! Hard work triumphs once again Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

The two hugged and off to the side the other members of Team-Gai looked on. Both Tenten and Neji had long since gotten use to these displays and both were wondering how Lee had recovered so fast.

"I still want to know how he did it." Tenten stated as she threw a kunai to hit the target dead on. She was still aching from the preliminaries but refused to stay in the hospital any longer.

"He's copying what Sakura did during the fight with Sasuke." Neji stated sounding annoyed for some reason. The boy was stood arms crossed and had his Byakugan activated and was closely observing Lee.

"Really?" Tenten pulled the kunai out and walked back over to Neji before watching Lee and threw the kunai, again hitting the target.

"Yes, he's using one half of chakra like Sakura did and layering it around his body." Neji growled.

"But he's not glowing." Tenten stated interested.

"He doesn't have as high levels as Sakura does. I guess that's why."

"I still find it strange to hear you say he's using chakra." Tenten said tapping the tip of another kunai against her lips in thought.

"And that's the frustrating bit. He's not! It's not chakra." Neji growled.

"Gai-sensei." Lee said more seriously stopping Gai before he replied with the usual reply. "Is it true that Ranma-san has been sentenced to death?"

Gai took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I'm afraid so."

"But why?" Lee asked annoyed. "Ranma-san is amazing and knows lots of stuff we don't. Just using what she showed me I've healed myself and beat my previous time."

"I know Lee." Gai stated placing a hand on his student's shoulder. "There are people on the council who have been waiting for something like this to happen involving Naruto. They've used what happened to Ranma as a means to get to Naruto."

"I still don't understand why."

"Human nature Lee. Something happened that scared people and Naruto reminds them of it even though the boy had nothing to do with it." Gai stated.

"It's still not fair."

"I know Lee. I know."

"Yo!" Kakashi's voice interrupted their conversation and they both turned to the newcomer.

"Kakashi my rival!" Gai exclaimed pleased to see the copy-ninja was out. "I see you've escaped the holding cells. Will I have to send you back?"

"Sorry Gai, I'm a free man." Kakashi grinned behind his mask before his eyes moved to study Lee intently. "How's your student?"

"Glad you asked rival! Lee is better than ever! Yosh! Ranma's training has helped amazingly. He had even beaten his previous record!"

"Yes Kakashi-san." Lee replied with a light bow. "I have improved."

"Impressive in just two days. If I may how have you gotten better?" Kakashi asked curious at how Lee had actually managed to improve as well. 'Can this technique make a person stronger as well as healing them?'

"I've been keeping my errr is it ki?" Lee paused unsure.

"I believe that's what Ranma calls it." Kakashi told the boy and Gai nodded beside him.

"Well I've been keeping my ki held constantly like Ranma said. It was hard for the first few hours and then suddenly became easier." Lee explained.

"Does it not tire you?" Kakashi asked.

"Not since it began to get easier. It actually makes me feel like I have more energy. I noticed that I can move quicker while holding it." Lee grinned and threw a quick combo of punches and kicks too fast for a normal eye to follow just to emphasise his point.

Kakashi's eyebrows actually rose at this information. "So...it seems the technique not only boosts your healing but boosts everything you do. Impressive."

"Indeed my rival." Gai agreed with a smirk while holding his chin.

"Hmmm, Gai can I speak with you in private." Kakashi asked his self-proclaimed rival.

"Of course." Gai nodded suspecting it was about Naruto, Sakura, Ranma and a mission. "Lee, have a break for a while. I don't want you over doing it no matter how well you feel."

"Okay Gai-sensei." Lee replied unenthusiastically at being told to stop training.

As Kakashi and Gai walked away Shikamaru and Ino entered the training area. Kakashi waved as they passed each other.

"Seems Lee's going to be quite popular for a while." Kakashi stated watching the gennins walk over to Lee.

"Yes I think so too." Gai stated as the continued walking. "So what do you want with me?"

"You may have guessed already." Kakashi told Gai. "The Hokage informed me Sasuke has taken off after his teammates. I'm to find him."

"I see. This surprises you?"

"Yeah, it's not like Sasuke...but I'm not complaining as he seems to have learned to care for his team and not just to think of getting stronger." Kakashi stated. "Worry thing though, is there seems to be a group of S-Rank missing-nin after Naruto for what he contains."

"Really?" Gai stated frowning at that news.

"So we have Orochimaru after both Sasuke and Sakura stroke Ranma. And a shadowy organisation after Naruto. The Hokage said I was to find them but did not say I could not take anyone with me. Gai, can I ask you to help me?"

"Of course my rival. I owe Ranma for what she has done with Lee." Gai stated seriously. "But Lee will want to come as well."

"I may not be coming back for a long time." Kakashi informed Gai letting his friend know how seriously he felt about this. "If the council refuse to pardon Ranma and Naruto, I doubt Sasuke will want to return and I will not force him."

"You are thinking of actually leaving Konoha?" Gai asked in astonishment.

"It's a possibility." Kakashi sighed. "I would already have if Ranma had not paralysed me. She refused to let me do that for her."

"She has too much honour to be a demon." Gai sighed. "The council is definitely wrong in this. You can count on me rival but I do wish to take Lee with us. I owe him for teaching those techniques."

"Thanks Gai." Kakashi smiled glad for Gai's help and understanding.

x X x

"Hey Lee!" Ino waved at the green clad boy who was surprised to see Ino and Shikamaru.

"Yamanaka-san, Nara-san." Lee greeted. "What brings you guys here?"

"We heard from Choji how you've recovered real quick." Ino stated.

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed. "It's amazing. How did you do it?"

"Ranma-san taught me." Lee grinned. "She is an amazing teacher."

"Ranma?" Shikamaru asked. Again, there was that name. "Who is she?"

"Oh you don't know?" Lee asked surprised expecting it to be common knowledge.

"No we've never met any Ranma." Ino said.

"Oh." Lee said pondering.

"So who is she?" probed Shikamaru really interested in this person now.

"She's a Jounin who's recently joined the village." Lee stated carefully knowing that Ranma and Sakura were supposed to be kept as separate people.

"I've never hear of." Shikamaru started to speak but was quickly cut off as Lee's arm shot out in front of his face and caught something.

"Hello...Gaara of the desert." Lee stated calmly as Shikamaru and Ino looked behind the boy in shock to see the red haired boy who had hurt Lee so badly behind him.

"Neji!" Tenten stated as she too spotted the boy with the large gourd of sand on his back.

"I know." Neji replied. "Come on."

Absolute silence fell over the training ground as nobody dared breathe. Gaara stood arms crossed glaring angrily at Lee who kept his back to the boy. Shikamaru was cursing in his head at the appearance of Gaara. Ino carefully placed herself behind Shikamaru. Tenten and Neji had by this time walked over to stand beside Shikamaru.

"The Horse is teaching you." Gaara spoke his voice ever so lightly laced with anger. "Where is he?"

Lee turned around slowly to face Gaara.

"You mean Ranma? She is not here anymore." Lee calmly said with a faint grin and proceeded to crush the cork making sure Gaara saw it was the arm he had shattered.

"Then I will just have to prove myself with destroying his student." Gaara stated menacingly. Lee's display had not gone unnoticed by Gaara.

"You may try. But I will warn you I've gotten better. Ranma is a good teacher." Lee stated. "I don't hate you though for what you tried."

"You don't?" Gaara looked surprised by this. "My entire existence has people hating me because of what I can do. You say you don't...then perhaps I should kill your friends and make you."

Lee suddenly vanished and reappeared very close to Gaara but not close enough for his sand to react and stared the boy in the eyes.

"I would stop you before you would have chance." Lee told the boy calmly as he began focusing his ki more tightly like Ranma had shown and Gaara's eyes widened in surprise as Lee's aura faintly came into the visible spectrum.

"Do you see that?" Ino asked at the sight of a very faint blue outline flicker around Lee.

"Yeah." Shikamaru stated recognising that from what Sakura did. 'That's two who can do that now.'

"His power is growing stronger." Neji stated loud enough that Gaara would hear.

Gaara stared at the boy before him and felt the demon inside quiver. 'So like the horse...scary.'

"You can't win this time." Lee stated totally confident as he felt Gaara was unsettled by something.

"So it seems." Gaara stated and turned away.

"Why?" Lee asked as Gaara began walking away. "Why do you want Ranma?"

"The Horse killed the brothers and sisters of someone close to me a long time ago." Gaara replied before disappearing into the woods.

**Chapter 18 – Dreams of the Past**

_Warning – Flashback Alert!_

Holding a hand to his brow to block out some of the midday sunlight, Ranma stared out across the arid wasteland watching carefully for anything that could signify a threat. The sky overhead was a stunningly clear blue and not a single cloud anywhere in sight. The sun scorched desert sands would shift ever so slightly as the light wind blew across them, collecting grains of sand and carrying them elsewhere to be deposited at a later date. In spite of this breeze the winds brought no relief from the oppressive heat, as the winds in this part of the new world seemed as warm as the sun was hot.

Ranma, who still had his black hair held in his trademark pigtail appeared in his early twenties but was in actuality closer to fifty due to having the stunting effects of Happosai's ki draining technique applied to himself as a counter measure to the Bijuu monsters that roamed the lands. Demons from another plane that only a bare handful could hope to even hold off, let alone kill. These monsters were at a completely different level of power compared to any of the super powered martial artists Ranma had fought during his youth and to fight them you required the same level of power.

'How I long for those good old days.' Ranma thought letting his mind drift as he scratched his stubble covered chin. 'God this itches. How most of the guys put up with full beards I don't know. Probably got no choice, it's not like we have lots of water spare to shave with.'

Ranma had never managed to attain a full beard due to his curse that still plagued him since he had visited that training ground, Jusenkyo during his sixteenth year. Even here in the driest part of the world cold water would miraculously find him triggering the curse and transforming him instantly into a sixteen year old girl. In fact it was the exact same form he had gotten the moment he had plunged into the cursed waters. The cursed forms he had discovered did not age in the slightest and another more serious problem existed with this fact.

His girl form could not physically improve.

This had not been a problem at sixteen or during his seventeenth year. At eighteen though he had begun to suspect something was wrong when all the girls in his current year at college were taller and began gaining a maturity about them and his girl form was still a cute little thing and the different in strength from his male body and female body had grown dramatically.

Sure he could learn new techniques and make up for some lost strength with his now immense ki reserves but even then his girl form was so far behind his normal body that a transformation in the middle of a fight could instantly swing a battle to his opponents favour. Something the bastard fox loved to take advantage of during sparing. Fortunately it was rare that a human opponent had the sort of strength to defeat him in his girl form.

'Kami this heat.' Ranma internally groaned. 'Another pleasure from the bombs I suppose.' Ranma thought sadly to himself as he scanned the horizon for any movement that may indicate a threat to the small community of survivors that was his responsibility to protect. 'At least the heat keeps bandits away and even the Bijuu don't like it. A small blessing.'

Ranma's long robes, tattered at the edges and once white but now so ingrained with dirt from travelling it was now a dirty brown shifted as the breeze passed him by stirring the sand near his feet and revealing his once red, worn and many times patched mandarin style shirt and black loose fitting pants. He wore no shoes having long since worn them out with the constant travelling and anyone who did not know him would wonder how he could stand standing on the burning sands. In fact most would wonder how in the world he was able to stand out in the blistering midday sun with nary a sign of perspiration on his brow.

"How long are ya planning to stalk me," Ranma stated clearly. "Kyuubi?"

"Dammit!" a shape moved behind Ranma underneath the sands. "How in nine hells do you do that?"

"Your aura is far too distinct ta hide completely." Ranma stated still scouring the horizon. "Even the Umisenken has a weakness."

The sands parted and a red-haired 'man' rose up out of it behind the pigtailed martial artist. The fox, like the kitsune of legend was a shape shifter and deviously clever. Ranma had known the fox since eighteen, having been the third demon to be sent to destroy him and unlike the earlier ones Kyuubi had cunning intelligence and some kind of ulterior motive. Instead of attacking without warning the fox had challenged him to a battle.

After a long drawn out fight with much property destruction Kyuubi had won, but instead of killing him the fox told him what was going on, who had summoned it and what its contract was. Ranma was still suspicious of the fox and never let his guard down around it, but without the demon's knowledge of the other Bijuu and his strength Ranma knew the small band of survivors he protected would never had gotten this far.

Why had the fox decided to help him? Ranma still was unsure. Kyuubi stated he was curious about the human who had fought not one but two lesser Bijuu earlier and survived. Whatever his reasons Kyuubi had seemed pleased with Ranma and they had formed a tentative alliance to fight the ones summoing the demons. It was unfortunate that the third failure pushed the ones summoning the demons to summon something they could not control and all hell broke loose literally. With no one to control the summoning portal many more Bijuu found their way to this realm.

"I will defeat your senses one day." Kyuubi stated with a shake of his head before grinning evilly. "I still don't understand why you chose this forsaken wasteland to build a village. This heat is terrible."

"Like you actually feel it anymore than I do." Ranma stated turning to face the grinning human shaped fox. Kyuubi's human form was tall and lithe, standing a full head above Ranma. His face sharp and angular as was his nose and ears and when he smiled it would reveal his sharp teeth giving him a sinsester look. Something he enjoyed showing the surviors quite often.

"Yes, this soul of ice trick and your subsequent improvements to it help wondrously." Kyuubi stated that infernal grin never leaving his face as he brushed the sand off his immaculate black business suit.

'I still don't know how he makes clothes with ki.' Ranma thought absently while addressing the fox. "Whaddya want fox? You don't come out here and bother me unless you're after something."

"You wound me Saotome." Kyuubi said while feigning being hurt.

"I wish." Ranma stated under his breath which only caused the fox's grin to widen.

"Can I not come and see the only human worth talking to in this entire world without wanting something?" Kyuubi asked attempting innocence and failing miserably. Ranma's silence and unbelieving stare was enough answer for the fox who sighed. "Fine, fine. You are no fun at all anymore, you know that?"

"Whatever." Ranma stated growing tired of the fox's humour. "Either tell me what you're after or go bother someone else."

"The rift is growing." Kyuubi stated turning serious. "Even you can feel it now, can't you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ranma denied turning away.

"You can deny it all you want, but it does not change the fact you are becoming more like us every day." Kyuubi stepped up behind Ranma and placed his hands on Ranma's shoulders and leaned closer. "No human can sense the home plane." Kyuubi whispered in Ranma's ear.

"I've always done the impossible." Ranma stated using all his control to not flinch at the close proximity to the fox. "No human should have been able to kill a god, yet I did before you Bijuu even existed here."

"And that is why we were brought here was it not? To destroy the Godslayer. They feared and lusted after your power even back then." Kyuubi's voice dropped to a whisper. "They all wanted your power, your ability to learn techniques after seeing them, your creativity to adapt your techniques on the fly. The Amazons wanted you for breeding. The Musk offered their Prince sometimes Princess to you for the same reason. And the Phoenix people in their arrogance and fear of the power balance shifting tried to have you destroyed."

"And the whole world paid for that arrogance." Ranma growled shrugging Kyuubi's hands off his shoulders. "And is still paying."

"And you waste your time protecting these humans instead of helping me destroy the rift." Kyuubi said the displeasure in his voice clear as day. "The longer we wait the more chance of something really powerful coming through."

"I can't leave. Not yet." Ranma said quietly.

"Foolishness." Kyuubi shook his head at Ranma. "The brat will be born whether you're here or not."

"That is not the point." Ranma growled. "You wouldn't understand."

"You're right; I don't understand why you hold onto your foolish human notions." Kyuubi stated. "With our combined strength we could destroy any who could oppose us and once the rift is dealt with no one could ever challenge us again. You could remake the world any way you wished, ruling over these humans if that is your desire."

"After all these years and you still don't know me." Ranma stated sadly. "That is why you'll never understand."

Kyuubi fell silent for once and stepped over to stand by Ranma's side. "Perhaps not, but you know the rift must be sealed and soon. That is the priority now. Your subjects..."

"People, Kyuubi. People. I don't rule over anyone." Ranma interrupted the fox.

"Fine, your people." Kyuubi corrected himself, the word people said with distaste. "Are safe. There are more than enough younger ones trained and able to defend the hidden village from any human threats and you know that if we are not near, the remaining Bijuu will not pay them any attention. It is us or should I say you that they're after most, seeing as you've destroyed many of us."

Ranma let out an annoyed sigh but did not rebut the fox. He knew Kyuubi was speaking the truth, but still he could not leave just yet.

"I see what it is." Kyuubi stated slyly turning his head to face Ranma. "You're afraid. Afraid your daughter is going to die giving birth like her mother. The great Wild Horse, the strongest of all afraid of his offspring dying. Pathetic, it's not like you can't have more at any...urk!"

Kyuubi was cut off as Ranma lashed out faster than the eye could follow and gripped the human shaped fox's throat in a vice-like grip. It was only due to Kyuubi being taller that he was not lifted off his feet. Ranma's blue aura flickered around him violently and the pair glared at each other, Kyuubi's red slitted eyes daring Ranma whose blue eyes had taken on a cat-like appearance in his anger.

"Don't _ever_ say things like that to me again." Ranma hissed menacingly.

"Don't threaten me brat." Kyuubi growled back while gripping Ranma's forearm tightly and letting his own aura grow to match. The sands around the pair began to shift from the energy beginning to be expended by the two superpowers. "So you show your true colours and will attempt to destroy me to avoid upholding your end of our bargain? Shall we really fight Saotome? So close to your precious village?"

Ranma held the fox's eyes for a few moments longer before uncurling his fingers from Kyuubi's throat and letting his power fade away.

"Good. You still have your honour." Kyuubi stated his face serious and he still gripped Ranma's forearm.

"I don't break a promise." Ranma stated firmly as Kyuubi pulled him closer and leaned over, drawing their faces close.

"Remember Saotome, you belong to me. My help for you once your people were safe. That time grows closer and sealing the rift is the final step to protecting them, you can't put it off forever. I will have you." Kyuubi whispered sinisterly.

"Finally found you Old Fart!" a male voice shouted out causing both Ranma and Kyuubi to turn to face the young man who came sprinting over one of the sand dunes. Ranma groaned while Kyuubi grinned and let go of Ranma's arm.

"Whaddya doing out here Okibi?" Ranma asked annoyance showing on his face as the young man stopped in front of them. "Shouldn't you be looking after Akane?"

Okibi glared at Ranma while catching his breath from the run. His pale skin was slightly flushed from the heat and a faint sweat on his brow, as unlike Ranma or Kyuubi he was not as capable of holding the Soul of Ice for as long, after all he was only human. He brushed his longish black hair away from his face and stared at Ranma, annoyance showing in his dark almost black eyes.

"I would be, if I hadn't been sent to find you Old Fart." Okibi said anger showing clearly on his 'far too pretty to be a guy's face' as Ranma always liked to say. "Why'd you have to go so far from the village?"

"In case any Bijuu attack dumbass. You know the kid of destruction I cause if I have to fight one." Ranma shook his head. "So why are you here instead of looking after my daughter in her time of need?"

"Because the baby's on its way!" Okibi shouted and regretted it as Ranma seemed to teleport in front of him and shook him by the shoulders.

"Whaaaaat?" Ranma shouted continuing to shake Okibi while Kyuubi grinned manically at the pair clearly amused. "Why did no one tell me?"

"Because Old Fart, you'd gone before she went into labour!" Okibi said.

"Gah!" Ranma pushed Okibi sending him backwards to land on the sand while Ranma threw his hands into the air. "Akane! I'm coming!" With that Ranma sprinted off in the direction of the village.

"You win the bet boy." Kyuubi grinned while helping Okibi up. "He did shriek like a little girl."

"Heh." Okibi smirked. "You owe me dinner fox."

"I suppose I do." Kyuubi grinned and the pair gave chase after the rapidly disappearing pigtailed martial artist. "Ooohh this should be fun."

Kyuubi caught up to Ranma easily with Okibi drawing close only a few minutes later. The young man had to push himself to keep up with the Ranma and Kyuubi.

"Why the hell did you come and tell me and not someone else?" Ranma asked annoyed when Okibi drew alongside him. "You should be there. You're the father after all! If I'd known you'd abandon her during this I'd have never given my blessing."

"Because, the Old Ghoul said and I repeat 'This woman's work. Stupid man only get in way. Go get Ranma.'" Okibi stated pulling a decent impression of Shampoo.

"Haha! That's Shampoo for ya." Ranma grinned his previous annoyance at Okibi disappeared. Out of all of Ranma's old rivals and fiancées only Shampoo had survived the attacks, the Chinese Amazon had proven herself extremely tough and skilled once she applied herself. Ranma was glad to have her around even if she had caused him trouble in the past. She mostly kept the village running and trained people while Ranma took care of the defences against the more dangerous opponents. Ranma would admit he would not have been able to set all of this up without Shampoo's help. After all, living in an isolated village most of her life and being trained as her Great-Grandmother's heir had given her the knowledge of how to run one.

The rest of the run back was in silence, even Kyuubi kept quiet and did not try and annoy Ranma. Once the village came into sight Ranma sped up with a burst of his power leaving the other two behind and literally eating his dust from all the sand he kicked up.

The village itself was not actually one of buildings as such. The survivors after a debate and a long dangerous trek across the desert had found a small ravine that was quite deep. Using various techniques Ranma and others had actually dug deep into the cliff faces creating a deep network of tunnels and large areas underground where it was cooler. This also meant the village was hidden from anything that could fly. They even had running water, after creating a reservoir above the village and using the Soul of Ice to lower the temperature enough to pull moisture out of the air to fill it.

With Ranma and Kyuubi being able to travel vast distances at top running speeds and both being strong enough to carry heavy weights while running, had travelled back and forth and collected soil and seeds to use for growing food. They also had collected as much salvable stuff as possible. The village was full of various sized bits of wood, metals, chairs and other useful rescued stuff. One of the best finds had been the generators that had been rigged up to supply power for lights, of course finding the light bulbs and the fuel to run them was a struggle and always was a target for the bandits who had salvaged bikes or cars.

One thing about the Bijuu had been a blessing after the bombs. Being the sort of creatures they were after having their forms destroyed by the bombs they drew upon energy from the surrounding areas until they could recreate themselves. The radioactive fallout had been absorbed by them leaving most areas safe to go to, unless of course the Bijuu was still hanging around.

Ranma bounded down the crude steps carved into the cliff face three at a time and at the first available entrance to the underground village shot down the large tunnel at high speeds. A few people had to dive out of the way as the pigtailed blur shot past. One older woman dropped the bucket of water she had been carrying which of course splashed water over the floor and miraculously found its way to Ranma activating his curse.

The now red haired, much shorter and different gendered martial artist did not miss a step as Ranma had long since grown used to the change, even moving at high speeds no longer could trip him. Ranma quickly continued to make her way straight towards what had been made into a crude hospital.

Ranma finally slowed down to a fast walk as not to bump into anyone in the often crowded rooms and soon spotted Shampoo coming out of a room. Shampoo had not changed much aside from being older. She still had her purple hair long, the only difference there was the grey strands that were appearing. She sported a faint scar across her left cheek and although over fifty held very few wrinkles. Ranma often joked that Amazon's did not age until a hundred. Then they suddenly became shrunken ghouls which usually earned him a whack to his head. In spite of having a limp due to a nasty wound she was one of the top fighters in the village.

"Shampoo! Is she ok?" Ranma asked as she skidded over to stop by the Amazon.

"You is late!" Shampoo growled blocking Ranma's access to the room. "Akane and baby sleeping now. No disturb."

"Aww com'on Shampoo." Ranma stated bouncing nervously. "I havta make sure they're ok."

"No. Ranma late. So Ranma wait." Shampoo stated crossing her arms defiantly.

Water was suddenly splashed into Shampoo's face and she vanished as her clothes fell to the ground. Ranma glanced across surprised and found Kyuubi grinning holding an empty bucket.

"You owe me Saotome." Kyuubi chuckled while Ranma grinned back before diving into the room.

Shampoo swore in catanese as she struggled to find her way out of her now far too large clothes as her curse activated and changed her into a rare breed of pink cat. Finally finding the bottom of her Chinese dress she climbed out and hissed annoyed.

Spotting the fox that had splashed her had changed into a normal sized fox and was sitting on his haunches grinning foxily at her, Shampoo-neko paled.

"Run little kitty." Kyuubi barked and jumped at Shampoo who yowled and shot off chased by the fox.

Once inside Ranma stopped by the door and looked over to the bed to see her daughter sitting up and carefully holding a wrapped bundle.

"Hey, Pops." Akane stated tiredly with a faint smile. Akane took after her mother in terms of looks although she had inherited her father's blue eyes and skill at learning techniques. Maybe even a little better than Ranma himself. Akane rated as maybe the third or fourth strongest in the village, tied with Okibi who she had married.

"Hey." Ranma said walking over and sitting herself on the bed. Ranma leaned over to check the little bundle and her smile grew as she looked down at her daughter and grandchild. "How are you doing?"

"Tired and sore." Akane stated. "But see, there was no need for you to worry so much."

"I couldn't help it." Ranma stated. "After what happened to your mother."

"Do you want to hold him?" Akane asked making sure to keep Ranma's mind off that subject.

"A boy then." Ranma grinned as Akane gently passed her son to Ranma who took the bundle and held him with practiced ease. Ranma stared at the tiny boy and grinned. "I think I understand why my mom wanted lots of grandkids now."

"Really?" Akane asked always finding the stories of her grandmother amusing. Especially the ones where Ranma had to pretend to be a girl called Ranko so he would not have to go through with the silly Seppuku contract for not being manly enough. Which was hard when you turned into a girl.

"Yeah. I'll get ta spoil him and you get to clean his messes."

"Daaaad!"

Ranma's face turned serious as she felt out the boy's aura and was surprised at the strength of it. Taking a deeper look she found something weird about it, but it was nothing she had experienced before. Probably just meant how strong to boy would be.

"He's strong." Ranma stated with a grin forming on her face again. "He's gonna be a powerful fighter one day. Maybe stronger than me."

"Really?" Akane asked surprised someone could be stronger than her father. After all even the Bijuu feared him.

"Yeah, as long as he don't take after lazy bones Okibi."

"He's not lazy Pops." Akane defended her husband.

"Yes he is. Just cause he's a genius he thinks he can slack off." Ranma stated while gently rocking the baby. "I need to know you'll be safe when I'm gone."

"Gone?" Akane looked shocked and turned serious. "You're leaving soon aren't you? And you're not planning on coming back."

"Yes." Ranma stated quietly.

"Pops! You can't leave." Akane almost shouted as she felt a lump appear in her throat. "You can't! Everyone depends on you."

"I have to Akane." Ranma sighed. "I have to end this. I have to destroy that damned rift and the remaining monsters."

"Even Kyuubi?" Akane asked. Despite the fox's nature Akane liked him as he had spent a lot of time with her as a child for some reason and was like an uncle.

"Especially Kyuubi." Ranma stated firmly.

"But why?"

"This whole thing was caused by me. I'm the only one who can end it." Ranma stated. "I have to destroy them...us all so people will be safe."

"But..."

"Shhhh." Ranma interrupted Akane gently. "Don't cry or nothing. I've lived long enough, the village is well protected and people are well trained. There's always the chance I'll survive, after all I'm Ranma Saotome. I don't lose."

"You better come back." Akane sniffed and Ranma passed her grandson back.

"There's always a chance." Ranma stated giving Akane a hug. "So what's my grandson's name?"

"I was unsure till I first saw him and I noticed his eyes had little black speckles." Akane Uchiha smiled. "I want to call him Madara. Madara Uchiha."

x X x

Sakura sat up quickly snapping awake at the dream. No it was a memory. One she did not remember until now? As she blinked the sleep from her eyes she felt the link with fox was more active than normal.

'Kyuubi! Keep out of my head damn you!' Sakura mentally growled.

'What's the matter Ranma? Remember something? Like maybe you tried to kill me and break our deal?' Sakura ground her teeth as Kyuubi's distinctive voice echoed around her head mockingly. 'Or is it something else?'

'I am not Ranma you damned fox!' Sakura shot back.

'Deny it as much as you want. It makes no difference to me. One day I will be free again and you'll be mine to do with as I please.'

'Be gone fox!'

Sakura almost jumped when Innner-Sakura's voice shouted out and the connection to Kyuubi went silent as Inner-Sakura blocked it.

'I'm sorry Sakura, the fox sent you that dream.' Inner-Sakura stated sadly.

'So it was just a dream then?' Sakura asked but when Inner-Sakura went silent she began to suspect that it was no dream.

Sakura turned her head to look around the small camp they had set up and her eyes fell onto Sasuke's sleeping form and she felt a strange jumble of emotions rise inside herself.

'Can it really be true?'

**Chapter 19 – Training**

"Are you _sure_ about this?" Jiraiya asked Sakura with more than just a hint of worry in his voice and a look of uncertainty on his face. "It seems a little ... _extreme_ don't you think?"

"Yep, I'm certain." Sakura exclaimed cheerfully from her current slightly uncomfortable position. "We need to get better and fast. The training we've been doing the last two weeks was all preparation for this."

"I want to get better but..." Naruto trailed off and finished with a gulp as he stared towards Jiraiya in front of them, who was in control of the training. Sakura had explained the training to them and it kind of made sense and he had looked forward to it, that was until he was actually facing it.

"That was all just preparation?" Sasuke exclaimed loudly from Sakura's right.

"Yeah." The girl with pink and black dyed hair confirmed.

"That meditation you had us do to learn how to heal quicker? That was just preparation?" Sasuke continued.

"Yup. Besides, you had a broken arm so that needed fixing before we could continue."

"The sparing while Jiraiya threw rocks at us? Just preparation?"

"Further developing concentration under fire and honing your danger senses." Sakura nodded sagely.

"Getting chased by those bears while carrying those damned rocks! Preparation?" by now Sasuke's voice was getting higher.

"I couldn't find any wolves." Sakura stated sadly with a shake of her head.

"Wolves?" Naruto blinked from her left and was ignored as Sasuke continued ranting.

"The hours spent freezing under that freaking waterfall? Preparation?"

"Body hardening exercise. Are you going anywhere with this?" Sakura asked growing slightly miffed with Sasuke's ranting.

"Wolves?" Naruto asked again and was ignored once more.

"Trying to pull those damned nuts from that fire? Preparation?" Sasuke was almost shouting now remembering all the burns he had suffered to his hands. Naruto winced in remembrance as well, even worse was he had not perfected it yet.

"Well you already know the Amaguriken from seeing it with your Sharingan but Naruto needed to learn it and we both needed the practice." Sakura stated.

"Dodging those damned bees you disturbed! Preparation?" Sasuke shrieked and began having to breathe deeply.

"Again, more work on concentration under fire. A little speed training too."

"Wolves?" Naruto asked third time lucky.

"They're faster than bears." Sakura explained turning to Naruto finally answering his question.

"Oh. I guess." Naruto stated not convinced.

"As for why we did so much prep work." Sakura spoke before Sasuke could ask another annoying question. "You need to be able to heal quickly with this training. You also need to concentrate extremely well under pressure. Focus is everything with this."

"So why are we tied up and hanging upside down from this tree? Surely we could do this the same without the ropes." Sasuke asked while staring at the three huge boulders hanging in front of them and held back by Jiraiya. Like he had said, the three of them were tied up tightly with only one arm with any movement available and the pointer finger on the hand of the free arm pointing.

"Well, you must _not_ dodge the rocks." Sakura explained calmly. "Your natural reaction would be to dodge which defeats the whole purpose of the Breaking Point training. You have to cause the rock to shatter with just one finger by finding the breaking point through '_seeing'_ it with your ki."

"You know." Jiraiya spoke rubbing his chin in thought. "That sounds suspiciously like the Byakugan and its ability to see chakra opening points. Are you sure you can actually learn this ability?"

"Of course." Sakura stated. "I could show you it right now if you wanted."

"You already know it?" Sasuke asked suddenly perplexed as to why Sakura was going through with the training as well. He did not want to actually be hit with a huge rock but Sakura was going through with it and he would be damned if he let her get any further ahead of him, and no way would he let Naruto either.

"Yeah. Ranma got taught it by his rival shortly after the Bijuu appeared."

"So why are you training too?" Sasuke voiced his question.

"Yeah Sakura?" Naruto piped up.

"Because there's a secondary effect that you get through the training, I may know the Breaking Point but I would not be able to use it properly. I'm not gonna tell you what it is till after you learn the Breaking Point first." Sakura smiled mysteriously. "Trust me; once we've finished here you guys will be thrilled."

"If we don't die." Sasuke stated quietly staring at the boulders.

"Why are we upside down?" Naruto asked due to the headache he had forming with blood rushing to his head.

"I thought it would be harder and more fun this way." Sakura grinned.

"What?" both Naruto and Sasuke shouted simultaneously sending birds flying from the sudden loud noise.

"Okay perv! Release the rocks!" Sakura commanded.

"Please. Please. Please. Don't die." Jiraiya prayed quietly while releasing the rocks. "Sarutobi'll kill me if you guys do."

There were two screams of panic from the boys followed by three thuds and matching yelps and Jiraiya was seen wincing in sympathy. The toad sennin almost immediately rushed over to the tied up members of team seven.

"Guys?" Jiraiya asked as he steadied the rock nearest to him and was relieved to hear three moans, his relief turned to worry as the three lay flattened against the rocks and he began to make up excuses in his head as to what he would tell the doctors in the hospital in the town nearby. It would not look good when he carted in three kids with broken bones.

"Guys? You okay?"

"Peachy." Sakura mumbled with her right cheek flattened against the rock and struggling to move. "Sonova...I don't remember it hurting _that_ much."

"..." was basically all Naruto and Sasuke could say at the moment from the intense bodily harm just inflicted on them.

"Okay guys. Five minutes to recover while Jiraiya resets the rocks." Sakura stated already pulling herself together. Only groans answered her.

x X x

"Please tell me you've found him?" Baki asked glancing over to the door as Temari and Kankuro entered the room. Both looked worse for wear, covered in dust and looking tired. The older Sand-nin with half of his face covered by a cloth that hung from his forehead protector stared at the two hoping that they had finally found Gaara. The red-haired dark-eyed boy had vanished for the last few weeks and no one had discovered why or where.

"Nothing." Kankuro spat his paint covered face showing his annoyance as he mimed vanishing. "It's like he just vanished into thin air."

"Yeah." Temari agreed leaning tiredly against her huge fan. "We checked everywhere we could think of."

"Damn him!" Baki slammed a fist against the wall behind him in frustration. The chunnin exam finals were almost upon them and with them the planned invasion of Konoha. In just under a week the invasion would go ahead and Gaara was one of, if not the most important part that Sunagakure had to play in upcoming invasion. "Where has he vanished to?"

"To be honest, I think he's chasing that girl." Temari snorted the surprise evident in her voice. No one ever expected Gaara to chase after a girl.

With a frown Baki picked up the folder he had been examining and looked it over for the fifth time today. Inside was a picture of Sakura Haruno and various bits of information about her. Height, weight, abilities, chakra level and achievements, all average aside from her knowledge and IQ. Nothing really special was noted, aside from being taught by the famous copy ninja until the second stage of the chunnin exam when she went on to fight and defeat Sasuke Uchiha, the Konoha number one rookie of that year.

Baki himself, had been there and witnessed the girl releasing that powerful air-based attack and it had been during the match that Gaara had first been noticed to act strangely even for him. Then for unknown reasons, Konoha had placed the girl into the Bingo books as A-Rank missing-nin.

Even more strange, their ally in the planned invasion had specifically stated that the girl was to be taken alive if seen. Kankuro and Temari had both claimed that the container of the nine-tails had been fighting with the girl, both had auras around them at the time making them look like animals, one a fox the other a cat. The conclusion, she was a demon vessel as well, and for some reason set Gaara on edge. Enough so he had disappeared the same time she had escaped from Konoha.

"As crazy as that seems it's the only thing we've come up with." Baki sighed staring intently at the picture. "This girl is something interesting enough that our ally, Orochimaru would want her. What exactly were Gaara's words when he spoke of her?"

"He definitely mentioned that Shukaku was scared of the girl." Kankuro stated with a frown. "Something about a horse. He also said she was strong."

"He did not." Temari interrupted. "Gaara said HE was strong. He."

"Yeah well, it was probably a slip because he was freaked by her." Kankuro reasoned.

"Gaara was more than likely referring to whatever was inside the girl. Not the girl herself." Baki said dropping the file once more. "That makes two demon vessels that Konoha had. Two of them. To think, Konoha are that ruthless. Strange how even our best spies knew nothing of this and Orochimaru conveniently forgot to mention it until we found out."

"Yeah it's very strange." Temari nodded in thought. "I mean, even the Konoha gennin's did not seem to know and how anyone could not know about someone like Gaara among them is a mystery."

Baki sighed and placed his arms behind his back. "I have a bad feeling about this whole invasion now. Gaara missing, information withheld from us. It does not bode well. The Kazekage is leaving early tomorrow morning for Konoha; he still wishes to go through with this plan."

"You think we should pull out?" Temari asked patting some of the dust from the search for Gaara off of herself.

"My feelings are irrelevant. The Kazekage has decided to go ahead and we leave tonight. I just hope Gaara has returned to Konoha and is waiting for us. Go get ready, we leave soon."

x X x

Jiraiya flinched once more at the sight of the three rocks smashing into the tied up members of team seven once again. They had been doing this training since early morning and it was dark now since the sun had set an hour ago. Jiraiya walked over to the swinging rocks that had the kids plastered to them, the light from the fire he had made the only illumination as the night sky was clouded.

"Come on guys, I think that's enough now." Jiraiya spoke concern evident in his voice. In spite of the nasty impacts they had been taking all day now he was surprised none of them had broken anything and voiced this. "I'm really surprised none of you've broken anything."

"We're fine perv." Sakura stated as she bounced lightly off the rock once more from the momentum it still had to wear off. "We keep going till they get it. Right guys?"

"I'm not giving up." Naruto stated glaring at the rock in front of him. The blond boy was battered, bruised and sore but still determined to learn.

"This is stupid!" Sasuke exclaimed in annoyance. "We've been doing this since this morning and none of us have made any progress! I don't even think this is a real technique. I think you're just doing this to annoy me."

"Quit whining boy." Sakura told Sasuke, her voice laced with displeasure at Sasuke's complaining. "I thought you were a Uchiha."

For reasons unknown to the group Sakura had recently started calling Sasuke 'boy' or 'brat' and pushing him really hard. Even Naruto had picked up on this as Sakura had been, not exactly ignoring him, but spending more time working Sasuke harder than she made him work. The girl would often burst into lectures aimed specifically at Sasuke and pointing out his faults more rapidly. On one hand Naruto was pleased Sakura was not giving Sasuke any slack and pointing out 'the great Uchiha's' faults, but on the other he was jealous of the attention and time she was spending improving the youngest Uchiha.

Sasuke glared at Sakura with his Sharingan eyes. Sasuke had activated the Sharingan just recently in an attempt to spot the so far mythical breaking point in the rock. He reasoned that the Sharingan should enable him to see it better and give him more time to spot it. So far it did not, and his frustration was growing.

"Prove it then!" Sasuke snapped.

"You want proof? Fine." Sakura growled before jabbing her free finger against the rock hanging in front of her and shouting. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The hanging rock literally exploded with a loud boom and sent flying chunks of shrapnel hurtling in all directions. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto where pelted with the chunks, unable to dodge due to being tried up. Jiraiya also found himself pelted as he was standing close by and did his best to avoid the shrapnel. The toad sennin grunted as quite a few tiny pieces impacted against him and one or two bits with razor edges ripped his sleeves, one left a shallow cut as it grazed across his right cheek.

For a moment there was only the sound of impacts against the ground and nearby trees before Naruto's voice cheered out. "Wow! That was awesome!"

"Heh." Sakura grinned smugly and turned to Sasuke. "Need any more proof?"

Sasuke did not reply instead choosing to narrow his eyes in thought. The Sharingan had picked up exactly what Sakura had done. As they had been doing all day, she sent a burst of ki into the rock, although this time it suddenly shattered. But still Sasuke did not actually see the point that Sakura had directed her ki into.

"I take it from the sour face your Sharingan did not see the actual breaking point, just the technique." Sakura smirked already freeing herself from the ropes and flipping to land on her feet where she dusted herself off as if nothing had happened.

"That was interesting." Jiraiya stated walking over while fingering the hole in his sleeve from one of the pieces of rock. "I can see many uses for an attack like that. Does it work on the ground at any point?"

"Yeah." Sakura turned to face the toad sennin. "Ryouga had it down to a fine art, using the breaking point as a shield or even a ranged attack. Only thing it won't work on is a living being."

"Come on reset the rock!" Naruto shouted out excitedly interrupting them. "I want to learn that!"

x X x

She ran through the ankle deep water of what appeared to be a sewer, trying to put as much distance between herself and ... whatever it was behind her. She had no idea where she was or what was chasing her but the gutted screams and bestial roars behind her spurred her on. Never had see felt scared like this before.

The ground suddenly shook violently threatening to throw her off balance and the sound of collapsing rocks ahead drew her attention. As she skidded to a halt the tunnel in front of herself fell apart and the rocks slipped and slided until that direction was entirely cut off. The noises behind her had trailed off after the last roar wetly gurgled out.

She whipped her head around quickly, her long blond hair following as she searched for another way out. Behind her footsteps echoed down the tunnel drawing closer.

"Shit!" she swore as she could not see anyway out and prepared to fight whoever it was. The first thing she saw was a pair of crystal blue eyes staring at her from the darkness within the tunnel, sparkling with their own eerie light as they regarded her with a look that sent chills running down her spine.

She recognised that look. It was the look of a predator that knew their prey was cornered and was content to take its time. It was a look she knew had been on her own face many a time before.

The eyes approached and she knew she was trapped like a rat. 'How ironic.' she thought to herself as the predator stepped into the light revealing himself. A man of average size wearing a long white robe, similar to what the Raikage wore hid his body preventing her from analysing his build. His black hair was tied back in a pigtail and he had a handsome face. But his eyes, his catlike eyes so similar to her own spoke of death and she shuddered despite herself.

"Who are you?" she demanded. The man ignored her question and continued his slow and steady approach. "Why are you after me?"

Again he ignored the question and stepped ever closer. She growled, her fear turning to anger at the man's continued ignorance and her exotic features twisted into one of hatred.

"Answer me damn it!"

The man suddenly stopped his approach and stood staring almost right through her. Slowly he raised a hand to point at her, but did not speak.

"What? What do you want?" she shouted.

"Our kind are an abomination and must be destroyed." the man finally spoke, his voice echoing around the tunnel unnaturally and making her jump in surprise at the sudden noise.

"You...you're a demon vessel, like me?" Yugito Nii container of the Nibi no Nekomata exclaimed placing the reason for the man's eyes.

"No, not like you." the man stated letting his arm retreat back under his robe. "Soon I will find you and destroy you like the rest."

"What? Why?" Yugito asked but the man had returned to his silent ways. Suddenly the tunnel was lit as a blue fiery aura sprang up around the man bathing the tunnel with its eerie light. Yugito barely had time to draw a sharp breath before the man vanished and suddenly appeared in front of her grabbing her by the throat in a icy grip and lifting her easily off the ground.

Yugito clawed at the man's arm as she attempted to remove his hand from it but his skin was like iron. He drew back his other arm and revealed his fist where three long claws of energy grew out of it. She had time to open her eyes wider before he slammed those claws into her belly.

Yugito screamed in shock and threw the bed covers off herself and sat up gasping for breath. She blinked in surprise before feeling her stomach to find it whole and unmarked, a cold sweat clinging to it.

"A...a dream...only a dream." she whispered moving her legs off the bed and placing her feet on the floor where she leaned her elbows against her knees and her head in her hands. The fear was now receding and she began to grow frustrated at the reoccurring nightmares she had been having these last few weeks.

"What is wrong with me?" Yugito asked herself shakily. The same dream, each and every night. The same blue eyed man stalking her and taking her down easily. Who was he?

Yugito stood up and walked over to the window of her room which looked out across Kumogakure. She opened to windows to let the cool night air in and stared out deep in thought.

Unlike most demon vessels she was proud of her abilities and as such had taken on far more control over her power than most, giving her many advantages. Her eyes were like a cats and could see easily in the dark. Her other senses heightened as well and she was proud of her position as second strongest in her village and no one had ever intimidated her for a long time. Yugito was even able to take on the demon cat's own form.

But this man in the dreams? He scared her, yet she had no idea who he was, except he was stronger than herself. Deep within herself she felt the demon cat stir and suddenly she realised the fear was not her own, no it was the cat's fear and somethings started to make sense.

"He must be a Bijuu." Yugito stated out loud and was shocked when a male voice answered her.

"Yes. The Wild Horse has returned and will destroy us."

Yugito glanced up and sitting on her roof was a boy of around thirteen. Wild red hair and cyan eyes rimmed with black bags as if he never slept and the word love written in kanji tattooed on his forehead. On his back a large gourd was strapped and he was staring intently at her.

"Who are you?" Yugito growled instantly ready for being attacked. 'To think I missed him sneaking up on me because of those damned dreams.'

"Gaara of the desert." the boy replied. "Container of Shukaku."

Yugito narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the boy. "Why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are here instead of sleeping. He is coming for us. The Wild Horse."

"You know him? That man from my dreams?" Yugito asked.

"Yes." Gaara replied quietly. "He will destroy us. Shukaku claims they destroyed him but he has returned to this world and inhabits a new body. A girl is acting as his container and soon he will come for us like last time. None of us can defeat him alone."

x X x

Naruto stared at his current nemesis as he hung upside down. The huge rock was stationary but he knew shortly it would be swinging its way towards him. This was it. This time he would get the technique off and impress Sakura-chan.

"Go." Sakura stated and Jiraiya released the rocks.

To Naruto time seemed to slow down and the world faded from view as he stared at the approaching rock. All he could see was the rock, that was the only thing that existed and as he stared he finally spotted it. There deep within in the rock and connected by empty pathways was the breaking point. A faint, tiny glowing spot deep within the rock.

Naruto focused his chakra and as the rock touched his outstretched finger he forced the built up energies into the empty pathways and straight towards the centre. The energy rapidly dived down the pathways and sped right into the point like lightening would when striking the ground.

The rock did not explode as Naruto expected, and the result was not as spectacular as he had hoped. Instead of shattering, the rock could only be described as vapourising leaving behind a massive cloud of dust which ended up covering Naruto leaving the boy completely covered from head to toe in grey coloured dust and coughing and sneezing violently.

Naruto heard Sasuke yelp and groan beside him as his rock failed to shatter and as the blond boy coughed from the dust Sakura and Jiraiya's jaws fell.

"Wha...wha...what the hell?" Sakura gasped pointing a shaky finger at the dust cloud that had enveloped Naruto.

"Hahahahha!" Naruto laughed then sneezed a couple of times. "Did you see that? I did it! Woohoo!"

"No way..." Sasuke stated flattened against the rock and swinging back and forth.

"I guess that was not normal." Jiraiya stated at the sight of Sakura still pointing a shaky finger at the now cheering Naruto.

"Errrr...no." Sakura stated snapping out of her daze. "What the hell did you do?" Sakura shrieked as she bounded over to Naruto who grinned triumphantly at her.

"I did it. I found the breaking point."

"I saw that. But how did you do...that?" Sakura indicated a big explosion and ran a finger across the blond boy's cheek leaving a clean patch. Sakura's face went into a deep look of concentration as she examined the dust on her finger tip and then rubbed it against her thumb. In the back ground Sasuke was seen glaring angrily at Naruto.

"Only what you told us Sakura-chan." Naruto exclaimed. "I focused hard on the rock and spotted it. Then I forced my chakra into the breaking point and..."

"Wait! Chakra?" Sakura interrupted Naruto's explanation. "I told you to use ki for this."

"Ki? Oops?" Naruto stated realising he may have just screwed up again.

"You mean, this works with chakra...oh my god..." Sakura trailed off a look of horror on the girl's face at a terrifying thought.

"What's wrong?" Naruto and Jiraiya asked at the same time while Sakura held a hand to cover her mouth in shock.

"I...you know when...I said it won't work against people?"

"Yeah." Jiraiya stated and a look of surprise crossed his face too. "You...you think it will work on living beings if you use chakra?"

"Maybe..." Sakura stated barely a whisper. "I've never seen the breaking point shatter something into such small pieces before."

"The Hyuga family style, Gentle Fist does that though." Jiraiya stated. "Forcing their own chakra into the chakra points on their opponents body to shutdown those points and preventing a person from using chakra. That can only kill if they use it on a vital organ. Isn't this the same thing?"

"Not really." Sakura stated using her knowledge of that style to compare the differences while she untied Naruto. "They go for the points around the body and only try and shut them down. This is finding the one point, that single point that holds the thing together and destroying it causing it to shatter completely. Even with me knowing the breaking point, there's no way I could copy the Gentle Fist style and shut someones chakra flows down."

"So if this works against living things with chakra you could kill someone with just a touch." Jiraiya stated deep in thought of the power of such a technique. It would not matter how big or strong or even how fast you were if all it took was one touch to kill you. The mess would not be pleasant though.

"So I just made a super powerful technique up?" Naruto asked once his feet were on the ground. "Woohoo! Go me! Go me!" Naruto began dancing swinging his arms in a circle in front of his body.

Sakura grabbed Naruto by his jacket and pulled him close stopping his celebratory dance.

"Naruto." the girl stated her voice dangerous. "Promise me you won't try this on a person. Not until I figure out what it can do. Please."

"But Sakura-chan?" Naruto whinged.

"No buts. This would be classed as a forbidden technique if it works as I fear. Promise me you won't try it unless you're in a life or death situation."

"I...err...sure Sakura." Naruto promised at the look of worry and sadness in Sakura's eyes.

"That goes for you too Sasuke." Sakura stated letting go of Naruto's jacket.

"Whatever." Sasuke growled out as he glared at his two teammates. "Reset that damned rock. I still have to learn it!"

'With a technique like that I only need to get close to Itachi next time and its over.' Sasuke thought to himself with a new determination to learn.

x X x

Orochimaru grinned in triumph as his sword, Kusanagi slid through the Kazekage's chest killing him. As Orochimaru withdrew his sword and allowed the body of the Kazekage to fall to the floor Kabuto spoke amusement clear in his voice.

"The hidden village of Sand's Kazekage was no match for us."

"Of course not." Orochimaru grinned turning his head to face Kabuto and his loyal follower Kimimaro. "Kimimaro, this is all thanks to you."

It was this very moment that the silver haired last member of the feared Kaguya clan began coughing violently and collapsed to his knees before dropping face face to the ground.

"Kimimaro-kun!" Kabuto exclaimed in worry. 'Has his illness finally caught up with him?'

"Have you reached your limit Kimimaro?" Orochimaru asked not making any move to help.

"I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sama. I've failed you." Kimimaro coughed holding a hand to his mouth where blood flowed freely. He had failed the only person in the world to care for him. This illness that prevented him from giving his body to Orochimaru.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see Orochimaru standing before him.

"Yes, Kimimaro, you have failed." Orochimaru stated and Kimimaro felt his whole world collapse around him. "But...I have one last mission for you. Something that will make up for your failure. I have found another body to use but at the moment he has run from Konoha with the girl I marked."

Kimimaro stared up at Orochimaru and felt a hope fill him once more. Orochimaru had one final mission for him. Fighting against the pain in his chest he drew himself to his knees.

"No one but Kabuto and myself know this, but that girl removed the cursed seal from herself." Orochimaru grinned at the look of surprise on Kimimaro's face. "Such an ability. I must find out how she did this. I want you to find them and bring her or Sasuke back to me."

Kimimaro forced himself to stand and looked his master in the eyes. "I will do this for you Orochimaru-sama. Even if it's the last thing I do. I promise." With that promised the last of the Kaguya clan turned and leapt away.

"Do you really think he can bring one of them back? What with Jiraiya himself guarding them?" Kabuto asked once Kimimaro was gone.

"No." Orochimaru smiled. "But at least Kimimaro will die in battle this way. And if he succeeds all the better."

**Chapter 20 –Falling Away**

"You guys ready?" Sakura asked as she adjusted the lavender coloured kimono once again that she wore on her currently adult frame. Sakura was currently disguised as a traditional young woman, her appearance immaculate and her long hair held in a bun. In fact she was emulating Ranma's mother from his memories of her.

"Yep!" answered Naruto cheerfully, disguised as a girl with his sexy-no-jutsu. The twin pigtails his hair was in bouncing as he nodded wildly. Like Sakura he was dressed in a kimono, but a light blue coloured one.

"Whatever." Sasuke mumbled hands in pockets while pretending to be ignoring everyone. He was still upset at not figuring out the breaking point technique. More aggravating was the fact that Naruto had succeeded, and possibly improved it as well.

"Awww, you'll figure it out eventually Sasuke-chan." Sasuke said motherly while ruffling his hair. The scene could only be described as cute, Sakura with a grin while Sasuke had his pet lip out again. "Besides, it's not that important that you learn it."

"Quit that!" Sasuke glared throwing up his hands to prevent Sakura's hair ruffling administrations. "Stop messing with my hair Sakura!"

"You know, we're supposed to be disguised." Sakura took a step backwards and sighed in frustration. "You're supposed to call me mother or mom. At this rate we'll be spotted a mile away. Can't you at least make an effort at sticking to the plan?"

"We're not at the town yet _Sakura_." Sasuke grumbled resentfully while running his fingers through his hair attempting to fix the damage.

"That's not the point brat. If this were an infiltration mission we'd probably have failed already with the way you're going on." Sakura scolded waving a finger at Sasuke. With a sigh she turned away and mumbled to herself. "So annoying! Just like Okibi."

"Just like who?" Sasuke asked in annoyance and wondering who this Okibi was that Sakura was talking about.

"No one important." Sakura made a shooing motion with her hand and looked over at Jiraiya who was just grinning at the scene. "So are you sticking with the plan?"

"Of course No-chan." Jiraiya's grin grew. "But I still think the one where you would pretend to be my loving and sexy wife is much better."

"In your dreams perv." Sakura stated coldly looking at him through half lidded eyes.

"My dreams? Heh heheh." Jiraiya began giggling perversely while he raised his hands and began his finger wiggling once again, a faint line of drool appeared at the edge of his mouth.

Sakura quickly stepped away from the grinning pervert, grimaced and shuddered as she could only imagine what was running through his mind.

"Remind me to buy a large wooden mallet while we're in town." Sakura stated to no one in particular.

"I don't know Sakura." Sasuke smirked. "I think that plan is better myself."

"Really." Sakura drawled turning to face Sasuke. "That's the same one where you'd have to learn Naruto's sexy-no-jutsu and pretend to be a girl too, right?"

"Errr. Actually now you mention it." Sasuke changed his tune with a glance at Naruto who was grinning.

"Yeah! It'd be awesome Sasuke!" Naruto cheered bouncing which drew Sasuke's eyes to certain part of his currently her anatomy. "I bet you'd make a cool girl."

Sasuke quickly averted his eyes and shuddered. 'It's Naruto. Not a girl. It's Naruto. Not a girl.'

"And why the heck does _he_," Sasuke indicated the grinning twin pigtailed girl. "Have to pretend to be my fiancée?"

"Because you two look nothing alike and we couldn't use the brother and sister angle." Sakura stated even though she knew full well that Naruto could change his sexy-no-jutsu appearance if he really wanted to. Of course Sasuke did not know this, but what he did not know could not hurt him.

"D...don't you l...like me Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked stuttering and turning the cuteness dial to eleven.

"Ack!" Sasuke almost jumped away. "Stop that! It's creepy!"

"Okay guys, enough playing around." Sakura stated placing a hand on Naruto's and Sasuke's shoulder. "Time to get serious, the town's just up ahead."

Removing her hands from the pair she turned to face the still giggling Jiraiya. "Oi perv! Snap out of it." When there was no response she walked over and viciously kicked Jiraiya in the shin.

"Ow! What did you do that for pervert-chan?" Jiraiya shouted while rubbing the painful spot.

"Because we need to get a move on, I can only hold this form for so long you know." Sakura explained. "If you let me take a bit more chakra then..."

"Right, let's get moving then." Jiraiya stated not wanting to feel the full effects of Sakura's chakra draining technique.

Soon they had entered the town and Jiraiya was now leading them towards the district that contained the most inns. The streets were strangely quiet and Jiraiya explained it would be because of the chunnin exams taking place in Konoha, they drew all sorts of visitors to the hosting village. The mention of the exams drew a sad sigh from Sakura and Naruto lost some of his cheerfulness. Sasuke seemed to not care, but was probably just hiding it.

"Well here we are!" Jiraiya announced proudly. "The best inn in this town."

The group stared at the building, which was stone construction but with fancy red wooden beams covering the building's front in an attempt to make it look like a temple. Sakura's eyes were drawn to the neon sign which was turned off at the moment. It read 'The Pleasure Temple. Bar and girls girls girls!'

"Old man...I don't believe it. Make that I do believe it." Sakura growled placing a palm to her head and shaking it. "We are _not_ staying here."

"What?" Jiraiya asked confused. "But this place is the greatest."

"No. Absolutely not." Sakura threatened placing her fingers and thumbs together to form a circle and aimed it at Jiraiya.

"Fine. Fine." Jiraiya sweated. "My daughter is no fun at all."

While the group set off to find an inn that was less of a brothel Sasuke began questioning Sakura. "You said it wasn't important that I learned the breaking point and that only the training mattered. Why?"

"Haven't you guys figured that out yet?" Sakura replied with a question.

"No. You said you'd tell us." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed. "You said you'd tell us."

"Well, I lied." Sakura informed them. "You guys should have figured it out by now."

Jiraiya tuned out the argument starting and stopped in front of a normal inn. "Well this one will have to do I suppose." He informed the group and was ignored as they were arguing over the training. "Well, guess I'll book us in then."

x X x

Landing lightly on the wall of the town, Kimimaro stopped to rest. Since being giving his final mission by Orochimaru-sama he had been tracking the girl through his mastery of his cursed seal. Even though the girl had somehow managed to remove the seal it still left a faint taint on her that he could sense. She was somewhere in this town and soon he would find her, capture her and Sasuke and return them to Orochimaru.

"Even if I have failed you with having this disease, I will at least carry out your wishes." Kimimaro spoke quietly and looked over the town. It was quiet and not too large; there should be very little trouble in finding them.

As he stood there the now familiar pain rose in his chest once again and he forced it down refusing to give in yet, not until he had fulfilled his promise to Orochimaru. Kabuto had tried everything he could to save him but in the end did not know enough about his unique bloodline to prevent the disease spreading. The medic-nin stroke spy had basically stated that the only reason he was still around was because of his bloodline and his accelerated healing, but even that would not stop the disease, only slow it down.

Closing his eyes he focused on finding the girl. "There you are." Kimimaro stated reopening his eyes and then leapt in the direction he sensed her.

x X x

"Welcome to my humble inn. How can help you?" the short middle-aged man asked Jiraiya as the toad sennin approached him.

"I'd like to book two rooms. One for me and my grandson and one for my daughter and my grandson's fiancée." Jiraiya spoke smoothly leaning against the counter and indicating towards the arguing group.

"Of course you may." The man behind the counter replied. "We don't usually get many visitors during the chunnin exams so most rooms are empty. That will be 500 ryo a night, that includes food. How long are you wanting to stay?"

"Hmm, well going to be at least two nights I think." Jiraiya pondered before handing the manager enough for the two nights. "You don't have a problem with booking the rooms at short notice if we're staying longer?"

"Of course not." The manager stated while get Jiraiya two keys and handing them to him. "Have a good stay..."

It was at that moment Sakura's voice shouted out. "Fine! If you want to know what it was for then I'll show ya!"

Jiraiya spun around in time to see Sakura sucker punch Sasuke hard enough to slam the boy's head into the ground and formed a crater from the impact. Jiraiya felt his jaw drop from the way the girl had just viciously attacked Sasuke. In fact the shear brute force of the blow reminded him of Tsunade.

"Oh my god! You killed Sasuke!" Naruto shrieked.

"Relax Ranko-chan." Sakura grinned dusting her hands. "He's fine."

To Naruto's and Jiraiya's surprise Sasuke pulled his head out of the impact crater and spat out dirt.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Sasuke growled rubbing his jaw and glaring daggers at the disguised girl.

"To show you what the breaking point training was all about." Sakura stated with a smile. "Tell me Sasuke, did that hurt?"

"What?" Sasuke looked surprised as he felt his jaw in wonder. "No I...barely felt it..."

"And that's what the training was for. I hit you with enough force to kill a normal man, but you just shrugged it off." Sakura grinned. "You could learn the breaking point with just meditation but if you used it you'd hurt yaself from all the shrapnel. The training is to toughen your body up so you don't shred yourself using the technique. It's actually a mining technique and was not developed for fighting with."

"I thought so." Jiraiya stated quietly to himself, his suspicions of that training confirmed.

"M...monsters." the manager gulped behind Jiraiya pointing shakily at the impact crater outside his inn.

x X x

Above them on the inn's roof Kimimaro stared down at the sight below. He had just witnessed that woman hit Sasuke the one Orochimaru wanted with enough force to leave an impact crater in the road. But within seconds Sasuke was back on his feet once again arguing with the woman in the kimono.

"Puzzling." Kimimaro sighed. The woman below was the one he had been tracking, yet Orochimaru had said she was just a girl, the same age as Sasuke. At first he had thought it had been the blond one but dismissed that once he figured out that the blond girl was actually a boy using a henge. The woman was definitely the one giving off the feeling of the cursed seal but she was not using a henge.

"At least Orochimaru-sama is getting what appears to be a strong body." Kimimaro stated to himself observing Sasuke was none the worse for wear even after taking a blow like that.

Kimimaro would have gone down there at that moment and captured them but for one problem, Jiraiya was there too. From what he knew of the toad sennin from Orochimaru he was about Orochimaru's equal in power. He would have to hope they split up.

x X x

"Okay guys, that's enough casual displays of superhuman abilities." Jiraiya said with a frown as he approached the three kids. "You're going to draw too much attention to yourselves."

"Sorry, per...pops." Sakura looked embarrassed. "It's just he wouldn't quit asking about it."

"There's no need for you to have tried to kill him though." Jiraiya sighed. In spite of how Sakura sometime acted Jiraiya was reminded she was still just a kid. "If the manager over there." Jiraiya pointed at the man behind the counter who looked more than a little pale. "Hadn't just given me the keys, I doubt he would have let us stay and we'd have to go back to the better inn."

"Oops." Sakura stated with a shudder.

"Well, too late now." Jiraiya said with regret. "I'm going to do some information gathering and I doubt you guys will want to go to some of the places I'll be heading to. So I think you should either go look around the shopping district or some other place with plenty of people. Try not to draw too much attention."

"I thought you weren't going to leave us alone again." Sakura frowned.

"You'll be fine." Jiraiya stated and tossed them a small sack each. "There's some money, don't spend it all at once. And now I've got some questions to ask some people." Jiraiya waved as he walked away. "All meet back here before dark. Oh and Nodoka, don't go running into any S-Rank missing-nins this time."

"So why'd you not just tell us what the training was for?" Sasuke growled once Jiraiya was out of earshot.

"Because you guys need to be able to think for yourselves you know." Sakura told Sasuke bluntly. "If you rely on me all the time what'll happen if I was gone eh? I want you guys to be the best."

"Cool." Naruto grinned at hearing that.

"Why the heck do you care so much about that?" Sasuke asked.

"Because we're f...a team, you know practically family."

"Feh." Sasuke shook his head. "So that's it eh? You're still just a stupid fangirl and daydreaming of marrying me. Well guess what. I'm only here because you're teaching me."

"No, it's not that." Sakura stated sadly. "Is that all you care about? Getting stronger?"

"I have to avenge my clan by killing my brother. That is all I care about." Sasuke said with conviction and Sakura felt sadness well up inside her.

"Sasuke, you're not alone. You have..."

"Don't bother with that bull." Sasuke cut Sakura off. "You have no idea what I go through each day, all because I was not strong enough the stop my brother." With that said Sasuke turned and began walking off.

"Sasuke! Listen, it's not worth it. Living only for revenge." Sakura called out to the boy's retreating form. "Even if you succeed it'll just leave you feeling hollow and worthless. You'll have nothing else left to live for. Trust me I know." Sasuke kept walking pretending not the hear her. "Ranma was the same; he threw his life away trying to destroy the Bijuu and still failed in the end." Sakura spoke quietly to herself feeling her eyes beginning to water. With a deep sigh she turned and walked off in the opposite direction leaving a stunned Naruto behind.

Naruto had heard Sakura's words and was shocked to find out that Ranma had been fighting the Bijuu. He had thought with the way Kyuubi talked about Ranma they had been friends. Unsure who he should follow, Naruto just stood in the street confused by this new information.

x X x

Kimimaro allowed a faint twitch of his mouth at the good luck presented to him. The group had all split up and gone their separate ways for now. Now all he had to do was capture Sasuke and the girl, but which one would he chase first? On a whim he decided to follow the girl as from what he could hear of the conversation she was the stronger one and was teaching Sasuke. If he could take her down he would have no trouble with Sasuke.

Keeping a discreet distance he followed her as she made her way through the streets.

x X x

Sakura mechanically wandered the streets deep in thought about Sasuke and what Ranma's memories revealed of the Uchiha history. She knew Ranma had a daughter who married an Uchiha and they had children, which in a twisted way made her Sasuke's great however many times removed grandfather and she struggled to get her head around this bizarre fact.

A part of her hated what Ranma's children had become, if they all were like Sasuke or worse Itachi she felt almost glad the bloodline was practically finished. But they were both family to her in this twisted way and Sakura knew from Ranma's memories he would have done his damndest to put the family right, but at the moment she saw no way of achieving that.

Sasuke was going to throw his life away in pursuit of revenge and it seemed she would not be able to change his mind. He had said she was still a fangirl and wanted to marry him. Sure she felt something for him, but it was not attraction anymore but the sort of love you would have for your child.

Maybe she could tell Sasuke the truth and he would change his mind knowing he was not alone or the last. Hey, Sasuke guess what! I'm your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-atleast-grandfather reborn so listen to me! Yeah, that'll work, not.

Sakura shook her head. Not a chance, that sounded so crazy even to her and she knew it was true and it also seemed the Uchiha's had inherited Ranma's and Akane's own stubbornness and taken it to higher heights. Even if he believed her that she was the reincarnation of his ancestor he would probably just continue on the self destructive path he was going down. It would take something shocking to snap him out of it. But what?

Her thoughts turned to other remaining Uchiha, Itachi. Maybe if she could figure him out she would have a better chance at helping Sasuke as well. Why had Itachi killed the entire clan? He must have had a reason. Nobody had explained this to her even if they knew. Perhaps Sasuke knew, but how to get him to tell her? Maybe she could threaten not to teach him anymore unless he told her. That might work.

Her thoughts turned to the brief history lessons they had at the school, specifically the lessons on bloodline limits and the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha clan is considered to have one of the strongest bloodline limits ever, the Sharingan.

The Sharingan. Sakura frowned at the word's meaning copy wheel eye. Having experienced Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan Sakura knew it was more than just the ability to copy other jutsu. Just how and when had the bloodline developed?

From Ranma's memories she knew Ranma had the ability to learn and memorise moves after only seeing them once, which with what she knew now would seem to indicate that Ranma had a Sharingan. Maybe he did, but it was not the fully developed one even if so and Sakura knew his daughter did not have one either. Okibi was the next suspect, he had been smart, a genius at the art but none of Ranma's memories indicated him having the Sharingan. That meant the Sharingan must have developed after Ranma's supposed death.

Madara Uchiha, Ranma's grandson could be the first. Ranma's memories indicated he sensed a strange power in his grandson. That must have been the Sharingan Sakura reasoned. But why had it developed?

Sakura snapped her head up in surprise. Kyuubi! That could be it, the fox had constantly wanted Ranma to develop and accept his Bijuu side and powers. Ranma had refused to grow that strength instead relying on his own training much to Kyuubi's annoyance. Then suddenly he had stopped bothering Ranma about it, right around the time his daughter had been born.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. It was beginning to make a twisted sense, Ranma had thought Kyuubi had finally given up on him. But shifting through Ranma's memories Sakura noticed that was when the fox started to spend time with Akane as a child. Thinking ahead she noticed another disturbing fact, Kyuubi had also begun paying attention to Okibi when Akane had began associating with the boy.

Damn, she was going to have to talk with the fox again and find out if that was the truth. If that was the truth, then the Sharingan was demonic in nature, probably what Kyuubi had been trying to get Ranma to develop. Would that be enough to snap Sasuke out of his ways?

Another thought floated to the top of Sakura's mind unbidden. If she was Ranma's reincarnation and Kyuubi had wanted Ranma to develop the Sharingan, could she develop one as well? If she could that would definitely prove she was related to Sasuke.

The more she thought about it the less likely it began to seem. It was after all a bloodline limit. A genetic ability passed down through a family, hence the term bloodline. She maybe the reincarnation of Ranma but she was not genetically related. She even doubted she could learn techniques as fast as Ranma had been able to.

Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts when a light pink cherry blossom petal landed on her nose. Sakura blinked and picked it up and looked around to find she had wandered into a large park. The place had many cherry trees lining the pathways and they were in full bloom. Sakura smiled at the sight and took in the beautiful scene before her. Watching the petals drift lazily across the path she felt relaxed for once, her thoughts about Sasuke and demons evaporated.

"So pretty." Sakura smiled and thought of how Ranma would never have said something like that and she felt happier to know she was still mostly herself.

A sudden sharp pain at the base of her neck stabbed into her and Sakura found her hand automatically reaching up to hold the area.

"What?" Sakura blinked and her eyes opened wide as she realised where she was holding. "The cursed seal? But it's gone." Sakura narrowed her eyes as the feeling faded away but now she was on high alert she could sense someone behind and above her.

"You might as well come out." Sakura stated turning to face the person who was hiding in one of the trees. "I know your there."

"I expected as much." A strong male voice stated calmly as Sakura watched her latest stalker drop out of the cherry tree and land lightly, barely disturbing the petals on the ground. Sakura examined the older teenager before her. He was taller than herself, had long sliver hair and she absently noted he was attractive. Two red dots above each cyan coloured eye and red markings under them were painted on his face which he held in a neutral expression. He wore the standard ninja footwear, loose-fitting pants taped at the ends and a grey robe with oversized sleeves which would be able to completely hide his hands if he wanted them to. The first thought to pass through Sakura's mind was a hidden weapons expert, and then she spotted the large looped and knotted light purple coloured rope which acted like a belt.

"So, Orochimaru finally sent someone after us?" Sakura asked recognising the style of dress.

"Yes. I have been sent to bring you and Sasuke back to him." Kimimaro told Sakura.

"Well, you're wasting your time." Sakura stated. "We're not going to him so why don't you run along and tell him that."

"Unfortunately you don't have a choice in this. I have to bring you back."

Sakura closely watched the boy for any sign of an attack, but he held his arms loosely by his sides and seemed relaxed, no sign of a battle aura or any hint of his abilities. He was either useless, capable of hiding his power from her or relied purely on physical strength and skill. Sakura was hoping for the first but doubted anyone who worked for the snake would be weak.

"So…what's your name? I like to know who I defeat." Sakura smirked confidently

"Oh?" Kimimaro stated. "Confident aren't you. If you insist on knowing, my name is Kimimaro."

"Well, Kimi-chan I must be pretty good if your boss is interested in little ol'me."

"Perhaps, or perhaps he just sees your potential and could help you reach it." Kimimaro remarked. "Although you were able to remove the cursed seal, which has never been done before so that does indicate you have some skill. I was under the impression you were still just a little girl, not the woman I see."

"Appearances are deceptive Kimi-chan." Sakura stated. "I guess you made that pain appear in my neck again."

"My control over my own cursed seal allows me certain abilities. Even though you seem to have removed it, there is still a trace of the seal on you. Enough to track you with anyway."

Sakura narrowed her eyes in contemplation. She did not like the idea of anything remaining of the seal, even less the fact that she could be tracked through it. "So, I'm going to have to have a closer look at that damn seal after this."

"If you came willingly Orochimaru-sama would grant you more power, and maybe you could even help a friend of mine." Kimimaro stated.

"I don't care about getting more power, especially from someone like him." Sakura frowned. "Why do you think I would help a friend of yours?"

"He is the bearer of the original cursed seal." Kimimaro informed Sakura who raised her eyebrows in interest. "He came to Orochimaru-sama to…"

"Let me guess." Sakura interrupted. "More power huh."

"No. He went to Orochimaru-sama because he heard of how many techniques he knew. He went to see if Orochimaru-sama could cure him of the seal, or at least prevent himself from killing more people. He hates what he becomes when the seal takes him over." Kimimaro corrected her. "You have done what Orochimaru-sama himself could not, removed the cursed seal."

"Your friend is the originator of the cursed seal, but he is trying to get himself cured?" Sakura asked stunned.

"Yes." Kimimaro nodded slightly. "At this moment he has locked himself away from the world in a cell strong enough to hold him so he won't hurt anyone else. I am the only one who can stop him when he looses control."

Sakura blinked rapidly and then examined Kimimaro closely. As far as she could tell he was speaking the truth, his voice even had a hint of regret in it. "You…you're not at all what I expected from someone who works for Orochimaru. Why do you follow him? You must know a person like him is just using you?"

"Yes I do."

"Then why?" Sakura asked flabbergasted.

"I am the last of my clan. They were feared for their fighting style and their joy of battle. They lived to be the best and to fight in constant battles. Because of my bloodline limit even they feared me and I spent most of my youth locked in a cage. They only released me so I could fight along side them. One day they took on a battle they were unprepared to face and all were slaughtered. I survived because I ran away." Kimimaro told Sakura who was listening intently almost spellbound. "I did not want to fight but my clan asked me so I did. After the battle I was lost and alone but then Orochimaru-sama appeared and offered me a purpose in life, because of him I finally had a home. That is why I follow him. That is why I am willing to die for him. I promised him I would bring you back and I will, even if it kills me."

As Kimimaro finished speaking the wind picked up and disturbed the blossom lying on the ground and blowing them down the park. Sakura found herself as disturbed as her namesake.

"I…" Sakura began to speak quietly. "I know what it's like to be used by your own clan. I know what it is like to be alone with no friends as well. You want someone, _anyone_ to acknowledge you, that you'll follow even the worst person if they show you even the tiniest bit of kindness." She looked Kimimaro right in the eye and her voice hardened. "But sometimes you have to do what you know is right, even if it means you're alone. I will _not_ go to Orochimaru."

"You've made your choice, as I made mine." Kimimaro sighed. "Then we'll have to fight."

"No. You'll have to catch me first before I fight." Sakura growled and vanished by leaping into the trees and sped away. Kimimaro was quickly on her tail. Sakura did not glance back as she could easily track Kimimaro as he rapidly began closing the distance between them.

'Damn he's fast.' Sakura mentally groaned as she was moving as fast as she could and he was catching up with her. Even though she had spent sometime during the past weeks practicing in her adult form she knew she was not fully capable of getting the most from her body yet. As Kimimaro was gaining on her she realised she would not be able to outrun him as she had hoped.

Sakura knew she would now have to actually fight the boy and slowed down allowing him to get closer.

'She's slowing down to let me get close. She knows she can't outrun me and will try to attack me now.' Kimimaro thought while using his bloodline limit to grow a bone spear hidden underneath his sleeves. Once in range he dived forward and slashed at Sakura's back.

Sakura had been waiting for Kimimaro to attack and easily twisted in the air and threw a punch towards his nose and was surprised when he leaned his head back just enough to avoid the blow. Kimimaro then kicked out at Sakura and was forced to arch over backwards in the air to avoid this kick and threw one of her own which was again dodged.

The pair exchanged blows in mid-leap, both attacking and both avoiding the other's attacks by millimetres until they both kicked out at the same time. Their feet met and the pair flipped away from each other to land in different trees facing each other.

Sakura stared at Kimimaro in surprise as she recognised the fighting style he was using. "Not possible…" Sakura breathed completely thrown by Kimimaro's fighting style. It was very familiar to her, only minute differences from the original style but it was definitely the one she thought it was.

Kimimaro himself stared at Sakura and his surprise showed on his face. 'She can't be.' Kimimaro thought to himself.

"You…where did you learn that style?" Sakura asked shaken.

"It is my clan's style." Kimimaro stated. "It is the most feared fighting style in the land." He raised his bone spear, the tip pointing at Sakura. "Where did _you_ learn it?"

"Learn it." Sakura stated shock heard plainly in her voice. "I made it! The Saotome style of Anything Goes aerial combat!"

**Chapter 21 – Let the Bodies Hit the Floor**

Kimimaro stood calmly in the branches of the cherry tree staring straight at the woman he was to capture. In spite of his calm demeanour he was actually feeling more than a little disturbed at the current moment in time. The woman in front of him had fought with his clan's own style. Not only that she was claiming it was a style she herself created? But the clan's style had been passed down for generations so either she was insane or was much more than she appeared.

"I find that…hard to believe." Kimimaro stated as the wind blew more petals between the pair facing off. "My clan's style of taijutsu is centuries old."

"Well, not so much created it." Sakura corrected herself from the statement she had made in her surprise. "Pops taught me, but I perfected it." Sakura's face split into a huge grin. "Who would have guessed my art would survive nearly a thousand years with barely any change and would come to be the most feared style in the land." Sakura's voice was full of pride and awe as she shook her head.

"Are you claiming to be over a thousand years old?" Kimimaro stated with a raised eyebrow the only indication that he was surprised. "And the originator of the fighting style of my clan?"

"Not really, I…Ranma was mostly dead for that time." Sakura told him still grinning. "But yeah it's my art."

"Now you are talking gibberish." Kimimaro frowned. "Your father must have stolen my clan's techniques at some point."

"My current father is a civilian. There's no way he could have stolen anything from real shinobi." Sakura stated. "Much less, the most feared clan."

"Current?" Kimimaro asked.

"Yeah, current." Sakura confirmed.

"Then…" Kimimaro looked thoughtful. "You have an immortality jutsu like Orochimaru-sama? You take a new body when you wear your old one out? I see now why Orochimaru-sama is interested in you. You're just like him."

"Wha…what? N…no!" Sakura stuttered as the parallels between her and Orochimaru hit her. "I'm not like him!"

"How so? Did you not just admit to taking a new body?"

"I…" Sakura began to say and paused. 'He's right though. I am like the snake, taking a new body when I die. This will all happen again when I die this time wont it?'

'Don't think like that Sakura.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma spoke up in her head.

'You've been quiet recently, Ranma.' Sakura thought back surprised to hear from her tenant.

'You've not needed me for awhile now.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma. 'Listen, unless we fully merge I think you'll just move on once we die. I'll be the one who must repeat this. Next time I will make sure this does not happen again. I'm sorry I screwed up. Besides, if not for my memories infecting you you'd never have known I was not a part of you.'

'You're right.' Sakura agreed and refocused on the real world.

"Yeah, it's true Ranma took a new body, but he lets me live my own life!" Sakura stated loudly. "It was because of your boss and that damned cursed seal that I got Ranma's memories stuffed into my head." Sakura pointed angrily at Kimimaro. "Don't you _dare_ compare us to that snake bastard!"

Kimimaro's frown deepened at Sakura insulting the only person to show him kindness. "I won't let you insult Orochimaru-sama like that." Although angry at Sakura for insulting Orochimaru, Kimimaro knew how to keep his cool, after all his style of fighting made sure you aggravated your opponent by avoiding their attacks by the minimal amount, making it look like you were not even trying.

"Then why don't ya come over here and get a real lesson in Anything-Goes, Kimi-chan?" Sakura mocked.

"Perhaps I will." Kimimaro stated calmly before leaping towards Sakura. Just as he came into attacking range with his bone spear Sakura yanked off her kimono revealing her normal clothes underneath and tossed it over Kimimaro's head blinding him.

He slashed at where Sakura had last been and knew she had avoided the attack. As he reached his free hand up to pull the kimono he felt the silk belt that Sakura had been wearing wrap around his body pulling his arms tightly to his sides.

Sakura grinned as she caught the boy easily and dropped down towards him. As Sakura drew close enough she threw punches at the attacking boy's head and chest, the impacts sending him down faster. As they descended earthwards, Sakura pulled back on the length of cloth to haul Kimimaro towards her. Once close enough she placed both her feet against his chest and kicked off of him and allowed the silk cloth to unravel.

Kimimaro felt three rapid hammer-like blows hit his chest sending him towards the ground faster before his descent was halted and then reversed and he found himself being pulled up. Then she must have kicked off of his chest from the feeling of feet hitting his chest and his descent was restarted much faster than before. As the length of silk cloth holding his arms to his sides unravelled he was sent into a spin.

'Impressive.' Kimimaro thought to himself as he approached the ground before easily righting himself to land on his feet. Sensing Sakura's decent towards himself he leapt away backwards and heard and felt the impact of the girl's attack hit the ground.

Finally removing the thrown kimono and tossing it aside, Kimimaro was impressed to see the impact crater underneath Sakura's knee where she had landed. Sakura grinned at him and slowly stood back up when he did not attack right off.

"Lesson number one; anything your opponent has or is wearing can be a weapon, even the most innocent looking of items." Sakura idly twirled the length of silk like a gymnast's ribbon before snapping it at a nearby tree where it cut through a thick branch easily before she returned to idly twirling it.

Kimimaro watched the branch crash to the floor and his eyes followed the twirling silk. 'Using chakra to make that cloth become rigid enough to slice through wood? That will give her an impressive reach. I better remove it from her fast.'

Just as he finished planning his next move, Kimimaro suddenly found his head snapping backwards and he was sent flying away from an unseen blow to his chin. The force of the blow was enough to rattle even his skeleton.

'Damn.' Kimimaro cursed himself for taking his eyes off the girl to watch her weapon. 'She used that as a distraction…I'll have to take her far more seriously.'

Using the backwards momentum he flipped himself backwards and once again landed on his feet and found Sakura was now standing where he had just been the length of silk floating away on the wind.

"Lesson number two; never take your eyes or senses off of your opponent." Sakura smirked.

"A mistake I won't make again." Kimimaro stated calmly closely observing Sakura now.

'Is this guy using the soul of ice?' Sakura thought to herself at Kimimaro's lack of anger at being tricked and hit twice now.

'Maybe he is.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma answered interested in this battle as his style of fighting was being used.

With a burst of speed Kimimaro shot forward attacking with his bone spear which Sakura expected and dodged. The boy kept his attacks coming and Sakura was forced backwards in her dodges. Try as she might he had the advantage in reach with the weapon and she was forced to keep her distance.

'He's not bad.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma commented. 'Take his weapon from him. Nothing ticks off a weapon user more than you making their art useless.'

'Right.' Sakura agreed and slowed down letting the spear pass close by her head. Sakura dropped to lie on her back on the ground and kicked up at Kimimaro's wrist in an attempt at making him drop the spear. The blow landed but the boy did not let go so Sakura went into a handstand and wrapped both her legs around his forearm before arcing backwards, pulling his arm towards the ground.

The bone spear stabbed into the ground and Kimimaro found himself overextended and his midsection was vulnerable to attack from Sakura. As he looked down their eyes met and Sakura grinned up at him as she made sure he saw the kunai she was holding.

Sakura thrust up at Kimimaro's midsection and in an amazing display of dexterity and strength the boy flipped himself up and out of the way using the embedded bone spear as a pivot. At the apex of his arc he let go of the spear and somersaulted away from the girl, abandoning his weapon. After all, he could make as many as he needed.

Sakura grinned triumphantly as she bounced to her feet and retrieved the weapon she had won off Kimimaro. Picking up the spear she quickly tested its weight and balance and was impressed by how perfect it seemed. The tip looked like it would be sharp enough to cut her even after the breaking point training. Sakura whistled in appreciation at the quality of the weapon as Kimimaro turned to face her once more.

"Lesson number three." Sakura grinned while swinging the spear like a sword. "A weapon is a crutch that can be taken away from your opponent. I would have thought you would know that one as you're using my art."

"Oh?" Kimimaro drawled and faint smirk played on his lips as he shrugged the left shoulder of his robe off, revealing half of his muscular chest and Sakura immediately spotted the cursed seal situated in the centre of it.

"Not bad." Sakura remarked. "But that stuff only works against perverts."

As she watched Kimimaro closely confused at his apparent calm and the faint smirk playing on his lips, his left shoulder seemed to bulge as if the bones underneath his skin had moved.

'What's he doing?' Sakura frowned as the boy's shoulder deformed straight upwards. As Sakura watched the skin began growing taunt over that area before finally tearing open revealing the muscle underneath which then tore in the same manner revealing the bone which was rising upwards on its own accord. Sakura noted absently that strangely, there was no blood hypnotised by the bizarre sight. It was like a train wreck or car pileup that you did not want to see but could not remove your eyes from.

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of a foot long bone growing out of Kimimaro's shoulder. The boy calmly, with not even a hint of discomfort on his face reached over with his right hand gripped the bone and pulled it completely out. The gaping wound soon closed up leaving not a mark and he whipped the newly created bone spear downwards causing the air to whistle past before pointing the tip towards Sakura.

"That would be true if my weapons could be taken away from me." Kimimaro allowed the smirk on his lips to fully develop. "This is my bloodline limit. I have total control over the size and shape of any bone in my body. I am even capable of creating new ones."

Sakura stared stunned and grossed out and looked down at the spear she was holding and shuddered in realisation at what it really was.

'Ugh! Gross!' Sakura thought instinctively.

'I've seen some weird stuff before…" Inner-Sakura/Ranma spoke up. 'But this has to be the freakiest technique ever.'

Kimimaro began walking towards Sakura who took a step back in reflex and he taunted to shaken girl. "You suddenly seem to have lost your confidence."

Sakura pulled herself together at the sound of his voice and quickly brought the bone spear up into a defensive position.

"That may be the freakiest technique I've seen since puke-fu but I ain't going to be beaten by ya." Sakura stated some of her confidence coming back.

"We'll see." Kimimaro stated stepping into range and attacking. Sakura parried the blow easily. The sound of bone striking bone echoed around the park as the pair began a deadly dance. Thrust, dodge, parry, slash, duck, jab, jump. This carried on as they moved around the park, neither getting any real opening to finish the fight.

"You are…" Kimimaro started to say and ducked under a slash. "Not bad."

"You're not too shabby yerself." Sakura admitted twisting to avoid another attack.

"You should just give up and return with me." Kimimaro said as they crossed bones and began testing each other's strength. "I don't really want to hurt you."

"In your dreams Kimi-chan." Sakura growled staring him in the eyes as she struggled to hold her ground. 'Damn he's strong too.'

"If you don't submit, I'll be forced to get serious." Kimimaro told Sakura as he forced her backwards. Sakura grit her teeth in concentration as she drew on her ki and halted her backwards movement by matching his strength.

"Interesting, you seem to be able to regulate your physical strength at will and without the use of chakra." Kimimaro stated cocking his head slightly to one side while examining Sakura. "You're just full of surprises. Is it a bloodline to control muscle density?"

"Bloodline? Is every normal martial art technique now considered a bloodline with you guys?" Sakura asked growling before she saw an opening. With a grin she took advantage of the opportunity presented to her and with a twist the twin spears spun downwards and stabbed the ground. Sakura let go of hers and began a high power punch towards Kimimaro when she saw he was smirking.

'Shit! He's tricked me!' Sakura mentally shouted as she realised she had made a mistake. Sakura attempted to stop the blow and jump away but was too slow. Kimimaro brought his free hand up and grabbed her shoulder. Suddenly a sharp stabbing pain shot through the captured shoulder and Sakura cried out as a sharp pointed bone burst out her back.

With her concentration shattered from the pain, Kimimaro was then easily able to push her backwards until Sakura slammed against one of the cherry trees behind herself. Instinctively she reached up and grabbed the offending weapon that was sticking her to the tree with both hands, which caused more pain to shoot through her injured shoulder.

Hissing in pain Sakura focused on Kimimaro to see what he had done as he took a step backwards and out of her reach. Extruding from his left palm was the bone she found herself speared upon.

"Lesson number four." Kimimaro stated slowly and clearly. "Openings are not always to be taken."

"Bastard." Sakura hissed at Kimimaro.

"I'm sorry, but I warned you I would get serious." Kimimaro stated. "Submit and I'll stop."

Sakura glared at him before glancing at her shoulder. She had to admit he was good enough to actually miss anything major as there was very little blood flowing from the wound. It still hurt like hell though.

"Fine." Sakura spat as she tested the strength of the bone and found it far stronger than normal. "If that's how you want it the kid gloves are off."

"What are you going to do? I control the density of the bones in my body, so you can't possibly break it. Nor can you break the tree behind you and you can't hit me from there." Kimimaro sighed at her stubbornness. Couldn't she see it would be better if she just gave in?

"You have no idea who you're messing with Kimi-chan." Sakura stated with a hint of anger before she began glowing. A blue aura sprang up around her and she grinned evilly at Kimimaro who blinked at the sight of her glowing with power.

"What is this?" Kimimaro asked out loud.

"Moko Takabisha!" Sakura shouted out pointing a palm at Kimimaro who barely had a second to see the glowing ball of power burst from Sakura's palm and slam into his midsection. Kimimaro was forced back by the impact which felt like he had been hit with a boulder, his feet leaving a track gouged out of the earth. His backwards momentum was stopped as he slammed against another of the cherry trees. Thousands of blossom petals were shaken loose from the impact and floated downwards.

Sakura grit her teeth as the bone spear was roughly yanked out of her shoulder when Kimimaro flew away from her and stepped forward grabbing the one she had dropped earlier and with incredible precision and a lot of force she threw it at the stunned Kimimaro and speared him to the tree in the same way he had her.

Kimimaro glanced slowly at his pinned shoulder in surprise as if he could not actually believe what he was feeling and then turned his eyes back to Sakura who was still glowing and glaring at him angrily. As he watched the wound in Sakura's shoulder healed, not as fast as his own ability but still fast enough to see it close up.

'This woman is...I've never seen anything quite like her. So many abilities and she does not use chakra.' Kimimaro thought to himself as he reached up and gripped the bone spear and gave it an experimental tug. It was embedded so deeply into the tree it did not budge at all.

"Lesson number five." Sakura growled. "Your opponent is not beaten till they are unconscious!"

Kimimaro was about to pull himself off the spear when the pain came back, blossoming in his chest. 'No. Not now!'

Sakura charged forward pulling her fist back ready to smash Kimimaro's face in when he began violently coughing. 'That blow must have hurt him.' Sakura mentally smirked as she drew closer. Kimimaro's coughing reached a peak and he seemed to go limp holding a hand to his mouth. Sakura skidded to a halt as she noticed the blood dripping from between his fingers. 'I don't think I hit him that hard?'

Kimimaro pulled his hand away from his mouth as the coughing subsided once more and stared at the blood. 'Why has she not finished me off already?' Kimimaro asked himself when no attack had landed and he looked up to see Sakura looking at him funnily.

Sakura frowned in concentration as she examined the boy before with her ki, carefully probing him and she let out a gasp in surprise as she spotted what was wrong with him. There was a dark dead patch in his lungs spreading out like a fungus.

"You...you're dying aren't you." Sakura stated in horror as her aura faded from existence.

Kimimaro watched Sakura warily before replying. "Yes, I am. Not even Orochimaru-sama can save me, and yes he has tried his best."

"You moron! What the hell are you doing here fighting me instead of trying to find a doctor to help you?" Sakura burst out, disbelief and pity etched on her face.

"Do you not think we've tried?" Kimimaro told Sakura with a hint of anger. "Orochimaru-sama did his best, took me to the best doctors he could find. But because of my bloodline limit no one was able to help me."

"You mean to tell me he really does care about you?" Sakura asked. Clearly she did not believe that was possible.

"He cared about my body." Kimimaro explained. "I was going to be his next body, and I would have given myself to him gladly. But because of this disease that will never happen. I cannot serve Orochimaru-sama as I have been waiting to do all my life."

Sakura's face showed a look of abject horror and she paled at the boy's words. It was insane! He would have given his own body to the snake and thrown his own life away, all because the snake had shown the boy a hint of kindness.

"You...you were going to throw your life away so that that bastard could gain a stronger body?" Sakura asked her voice raised. "Why? It's insane!"

"I told you already that I would die for him. Giving him my body, a piece of me would always live on forever with him." Kimimaro told Sakura his voice growing stronger. "Because I'll never be able to serve him that way, I've promised to bring you and Sasuke to him. It is the only thing I can do now. I will not break that promise!"

As Kimimaro finished talking he stepped forward, roughly tearing his shoulder away from the spear with a wet tearing sound and began approaching Sakura again as his shoulder healed up. Shrugging the other side of his robe off his shoulders, the cursed seal on his chest glowed red before slowly spreading out across his chest.

"Wait! Kimimaro, stop this." Sakura pleaded. "I might be able to help you."

"My time grows short." Kimimaro stated. "I must finish this quickly and return you to Orochimaru-sama."

"Aren't you listening to me?" Sakura yelled. Could he not see she was offering to help him?

Kimimaro raised one arm in front of his chest and Sakura saw lumps beginning to move under his skin accompanied by sickening cracks and pops. Suddenly, multiple sharp pointed bones punched through the skin of his arm and Sakura winced at the sight.

"As you seem to have a healing ability to rival my own, I do not have to worry about holding back." Kimimaro stated narrowing his eyes.

"You stubborn jackass! I want to try and help you!" Sakura shouted at the boy again.

"I heard you the first time." Kimimaro replied. "But how can you help me when the best doctors can not?"

"Just let me try." Sakura asked.

"No. It's too late now." Kimimaro stated and sprang forward. Sakura swore as she dived out of the way of the boy's attack and rolled to her feet. Kimimaro was right on top of her almost and he slashed his arm down at her. Sakura back-flipped away and the boy followed her closely slashing his arm at her and coming far too close to her for her comfort.

'He's not going to listen to you Sakura.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma stated. 'You'll have to put him down first before you can even try to help him.'

'But should I really? He's willing to do anything for the snake.' Sakura asked while avoiding a lightening quick kick.

'People used to think my greatest weakness was giving people a second chance.' Inner-Sakura/Ranma said. 'Some of my greatest enemies became close friends. I would at least try.'

With her course decided Sakura focused her ki once more and sprang away from Kimimaro faster than he could follow which caused him to pause as she landed a good distance from him.

'So she can increase her speed as well.' Kimimaro thought.

"If you're not going to listen to me then I'm going to make it so you have no choice in the matter." Sakura stated before shouting out. "Moko Takabisha! Double!"

Kimimaro was surprised to find two of the energy blasts heading towards him this time. The boy easily flipped over the two balls of energy only to be hit with another one as Sakura passed over his head.

"What?" Kimimaro asked as he was knocked downwards by the blast and smashed into the ground. Rolling over he saw that Sakura was charging another set of energy blasts. The blasts themselves were more like being punched that actually hit with energy and as such Kimimaro's toughened frame absorbed the impacts easily so he was not bothered about being hit. It was the speed and accuracy of the blasts that got him; she would be able to keep him at a distance easily with those attacks.

'Hmmm, well two can play the projectile game.' He thought as he climbed to his feet before pointing his fingers toward Sakura who paused, a frown on her face.

'What's he doing now?' Sakura thought puzzled by Kimimaro's stance.

Sakura's question was answered when Kimimaro's finger tips exploded and the bones shot out like bullets and headed straight at her.

"What the hell?" Sakura gasped and her pause was long enough that she had no chance of dodging the bone bullets. Sakura instinctively reacted and her hands flashed out at Amaguriken speeds to pluck all ten of the bone bullets out of the air. Sakura blinked and looked down at her hands and opened her fingers to stare at the bones she now had hold of.

"Ugh!" Sakura shuddered and dropped the finger tips. "So creepy!"

"It seems we're evenly matched in abilities." Kimimaro stated evenly while pointing his fingers at Sakura again. Sakura frowned at him while refocusing her ki for a huge speed boost.

'He can fight at a distance as easily as I can with those bone bullets. I'm going to have to get close and knock him out.'

Kimimaro blinked in surprise as Sakura seemed to vanish. There was a loud boom and dust and cherry blossom petals were scattered into the air. Even if he could not see the girl he could feel her approach and knew she was going to go for his chest.

Sakura reappeared right in front of him and threw a open palm strike towards his chest only to find the boy's ribs burst through his skin and she ended up impaling her hand on them.

"Shit!" Sakura hissed in pain as one of Kimimaro's ribs was sticking though her hand.

"Seems I have you now." Kimimaro stated and proceeded to hit her with his arm with the bones sticking out from it. As he was not using the points Sakura barely registered the blows and yanked her hand free. Growing angry Sakura threw another punch at him and was forced the stop the attack when a bone erupted at the place she had aimed for.

Jumping away Sakura frowned and began to evaluate her options. It seemed she was going to be unable to hit him in close combat without getting speared. He was capable of fighting at a distance too. The Moko Takabisha was barely felt by him with his toughness. She would have tried the Amaguriken but expected even with the blows she would get around his porcupine defences they would not do enough damage to slow him down. She could always resort to the neko-ken claws, they would be able to shred his bones easily but she was trying to stop him not kill him.

'His healing ability and toughness means the only way I could actually hurt him is with the Yamasenken techniques. But with his chest the way it is they might kill him. I have to tire him out somehow.' Sakura quickly began thinking. 'The Hiryū Shoten Ha could be used to drain his energy and fuel the attack, but he's not using hot energy and he won't lose his cool...unless...it works like when I used it on Sasuke and it went strange with the use of chakra!'

Sakura straightened up and pointed at Kimimaro.

"Kimimaro, listen to me. This is your last chance to see reason." Sakura warned. "Stop this fight and let me try to help you or I'll defeat you in one more move."

"Oh?" Kimimaro drawled once more before approaching her curious to find out what she would try. "One move you say?"

"I've warned you." Sakura stated as the boy kept walking towards her. "Fine, this was your choice though."

Kimimaro watched on intently as Sakura closed her eyes and began glowing with a blue fiery aura. He became aware that the temperature in the area began dropping sharply, enough that a faint mist began gathering around Sakura.

"Interesting." Kimimaro spoke raising his arm ready for her to attack.

"Final chance to back out." Sakura stated, her voice sounding emotionless suddenly and she snapped her eyes open and looked at Kimimaro. He could swear her eyes were faintly glowing as well, but it could be a trick of the aura around her.

"I will keep my promise." Kimimaro stated bracing himself to attack.

"Then come at me."

x X x

Jiraiya sat at the bar of a quite seedy watering hole and swirled the sake he was drinking deep in thought. His enquires into Tsunade had turned up nothing so far and he was becoming agitated with the lack of results.

The other reason for his discomfort was he had discovered from one of his contacts that Orochimaru was on the move again. He had been seen leaving the area where he apparently had his lair. From what his contact had said there had been a lot of Sound-nins moving out of the country in the last few weeks. Something big was going on and Jiraiya had no idea what it was going to be.

His thoughts were interrupted as a voice called out.

"Hey! Look at that!"

"What the heck is it?" another voice asked.

"Is that a tornado? In the middle of summer with no clouds?"

'Tornado?' Jiraiya blinked and followed the rush as people ran out into the street to get a better look. Once outside he could see the occurrence easily. Hard to miss a huge tornado that was towering over the town, twisting around with flashes of lightening inside the dark cloud formation.

'Wait, that looks almost like something Sakura does.' Jiraiya thought absently to himself while still holding the bottle of sake in his hand.

"Wow! It looks like a dragon!" someone called out and Jiraiya almost had a heart attack as he realised it was exactly like what Sakura had been described as capable of to himself.

"Shit!" Jiraiya shouted out drawing looks as he dropped the sake bottle. "No way! She couldn't have...not in this place...I'll kill her!"

x X x

As Jiraiya feared, Sakura was the cause of the tornado and at the moment she was struggling hard with it, trying to control the beast she ha unleashed.

'Maybe I used a little too much chakra!' Sakura mentally berated herself as she felt her chakra being torn from her like before. This time she had been more ready for the effects of this new chakra powered Hiryū Shoten Ha, but still she was being drained. 'If this is how bad it's pulling on me to fuel it, Kimimaro must be out cold by now.' Sakura reasoned and began to cancel out the attack. Little by little she gained control over the tornado and it began to die out.

"Got you." Sakura stated in triumph as the tornado finally faded away and she quickly looked up trying to find Kimimaro. "There he is!" Sakura stated to herself as a black dot high in the sky began its rapid descent towards the ground.

Sakura waited till Kimimaro was close enough to catch and jumped up and caught the boy and she landed with a thud and stared down at him.

"What the hell?" Sakura exclaimed as she lay the unconscious boy down. Kimimaro no longer looked human. His skin was a dark maroon, his bones stuck out his back like fins and he had a tail.

"Is this...the cursed seal?" Sakura asked herself kneeling down and checking Kimimaro's pulse. Finding a weak and erratic pulse Sakura swore under her breath. "Oh, god. He may have been too weak to have survived that."

Kimimaro's eyes shot open and he grabbed her arm. Sakura flinched as she noticed his eyes were a yellow colour now; he had lost almost all appearance of being human.

"Y...you..." Kimimaro started to speak but was interrupted by a coughing fit. Sakura tried to pull away but his grip on her arm would not let up. She turned her face away and shut her eyes as speckles of blood splattered against her check.

"Relax!" Sakura shouted at him as she placed her free hand against his chest and tried to move his internal energies to help him heal. The boy's breathing had become very ragged and every couple breaths he would cough. Blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Sakura stared in horror as she found the boy had no chakra or ki left at all.

'How was he even still alive?' Sakura asked herself shocked to her core.

"Too...too late." Kimimaro rasped; his grip on her forearm still not relaxing. "I...failed...I couldn't keep a...promise."

"I tired!" Sakura shouted at him tears coming to her eyes at the waste of life. "If you had stopped earlier I could have done something!"

"I...promised." Kimimaro repeated once more his eyes going unfocused before snapping back to Sakura's. "Don't let me...break...a...promise."

"I can't go." Sakura told him the tears that had been building finally escaped running down her cheeks mingling with Kimimaro's blood and dropping onto his chest. "Not to him."

"Then...at least...help my friend." Kimimaro asked. "He...relied...on me to control him."

"I..." Sakura began to speak, her sudden guilt at hurrying along the death the last user of Ranma's art made her decision for her. "I promise to help your friend, even if I have to go through Orochimaru first."

Kimimaro's hand relaxed and dropped away from Sakura's arm as a final breath escaped the boy's lips which settled into a faint smile as he finally succumbed to the inevitable.

Sakura sat back as the last of the chakra she had absorbed that day from Jiraiya disappeared she reverted back to her younger form. As she looked at Kimimaro's body she felt empty.

"Death follows me everywhere since then..." Sakura stated.

The sound of feet behind her drew her attention away and she felt out with his ki. It was Sasuke. Looked like he was the closest one to see the tornado. Sakura frowned. She was going to honour her promise to Kimimaro, but there was no way she was going to let the snake have Sasuke. She would have to do something drastic to prevent the others from following her.

"Sakura? What the hell happened?" Sasuke shouted skidding to a halt behind the girl and staring in shock, partly from the destruction of the park from the tornado and partly the thing that she was kneeling next to.

Sakura did not answer as she slowly climbed to her feet keeping her back to Sasuke.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked getting closer. When she did not respond he grabbed her shoulder and flinched at the chill emanating from her and quickly drew his hand back as if burnt.

"Sasuke...listen to what I have to say. Ranma had a daughter." Sakura stated.

"What the hell does that have to do with this?"

"She married a boy."

"..." Sasuke blinked totally thrown by Sakura's tale.

"His name was Okibi Uchiha."

"What the hell!?" Sasuke exclaimed. "Sakura your saying stupid stuff."

"They had a son...his name was Madara Uchiha. Ranma's grandson. He was the first to have the Sharingan right?" Sakura finished and turned to face Sasuke whose face had gone pale. "So you know that name eh?"

"H...how do you know..." Sasuke stumbled over his words in shock at the sight of Sakura's eyes.

"I've just told you how." Sakura stated with no emotion.

"Not...possible..." Sasuke breathed as Sakura took a step towards him and he found himself frozen as a freeing of complete fear overcame him. Sakura suddenly blurred and Sasuke felt his knee shatter as she kicked it viscously.

Sasuke cried out in pain and dropped only to have Sakura grab him by his shirt. She hauled him up and stared him in the face.

"I'm going to Orochimaru. Tell that to Jiraiya. Don't think about following me unless you can stop me Sasuke. If I see you before you can beat me I'll kill you." Sakura stated emotionlessly and then roughly pushed him away. With a broken knee there was no way Sasuke could stop his fall and he hissed in agony from the damage Sakura had inflicted.

"Don't worry about your knee. With what I taught you you'll heal it in no time." Sakura stated before she vanished.

**Chapter 22 - The Fall of Konoha**

Orochimaru hissed in pain as the searing, burning sensation in his arms intensified from his efforts to move them. Sarutobi lay dead in front of him, a peaceful smile forever etched on his bloodied face. Even though he had lost his life, the old man had succeeded in taking Orochimaru's arms from him, sealing them and his use of most jutsu's that required hand seals away.

"My arms...are burnt." The snake-sannin whimpered as the pain became too much and he felt himself wobble. He barely paid any attention to his bodyguards, the Sound Four rushing over to steady him, nor heard their cries. Instead he cursed Sarutobi for doing this, the old man had taken his victory from him even if he had taken Konoha by now.

"The plan...its over!" Orochimaru hissed fully intending to flee the scene.

"Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto landed on the roof and quickly rushed over to observe the damage, his ANBU disguise long dropped. Even from the edge of the roof he could tell his master was injured. It seemed the old man had put up a much greater fight than they had anticipated, dragging the battle out for almost an hour.

"We're leaving..." Orochimaru stated to the surprise of his underlings.

"Orochimaru-sama, most of Konoha has fallen to your summons." Kabuto told the snake-sannin carefully. "The snakes are only having trouble with Choza Akimichi. You've almost won."

Orochimaru paused and glanced over the village of Konoha. The sounds of fighting could be heard and in the distance the snake summons where fighting against the oversized Akimichi clan head. Huge areas of the village had been flattened in the last hour he had spent fighting his former sensei.

'I almost have Konoha.' Orochimaru thought to himself and turned back to glare at Sarutobi's body a terrible anger blossoming inside of him. 'You think you've won old man? You think your sacrifice will prevent me from finishing this?'

"Kabuto! The old fool sealed my arms. You will use the seals on my arms to summon Manda for me!" Orochimaru commanded.

Kabuto looked surprised for a moment before he smirked.

"As you command." Kabuto stated slicing his arm with a kunai and raising the sleeve of Orochimaru's top. Orochimaru hissed as the fabric moving across his arms drew new agony but he managed to bear it in his anger. Kabuto rubbed his blood covered thumb down the summoning seal tattooed onto Orochimaru's arm.

"Summoning no Jutsu!" Kabuto slammed his hands onto the ground and the seals appeared underneath them before the huge boss snake Manda appeared under them in a cloud of smoke. Manda curled his enormous, striped body around the build and hissed angrily.

"Why do you summon me to this land Orochimaru?" the huge horned snake stated threateningly as its eyes turned to them standing on its snout. "Do you wish to be devoured?"

"Manda." Orochimaru stated. "I summoned you here so you can have the sacrifice I have prepared for you."

"Really?" the giant snake hissed listening intently.

"Yes. This entire village, take as many as you wish!" Orochimaru shouted. "Devour them all for all I care!"

x X x

Sakura made no noise as she landed lightly on one of the tree's branches and paused. Standing slowly, one hand pressed against the tree as she stared into the distance. She could just make out the Hokage monument of Konoha, faintly illuminated by the light from the waxing moon. Who would have thought she would be heading back home so soon after being banished. Shortly after leaving Jiraiya, Sasuke and Naruto behind, Sakura had wandered into another city and overheard the news that Konoha had been taken by the snake-sannin.

There were an awful amount of refugees passing through, people from the village itself and others that lived in the area were quickly moving away to avoid the coming persecution. People had heard many things about Orochimaru's atrocities and experiments and were putting as much distance between them and Konoha as possible.

Sakura had felt her throat tighten as she heard stories of men, women and children all being slaughtered and she prayed her own parents were safe. She had kept an eye out for them in the faces of the refugees but so far had not seen them. Of course that did not mean they had not already gotten out of Konoha and where safe.

She had promised Kimimaro she would help his friend, the one suffering from the cursed seal and that meant finding the snake-sannin who had taken Konoha by force. The closer she came to Konoha, the more uneasy Sakura began to feel about this whole idea.

Sakura grimaced in remembrance at her own ordeal at the effects of being under the cursed seal. If what she faced was just a copy of the cursed seal, then this friend of Kimimaro's who had the original must be under tremendous pressure. Kimimaro had mentioned the seal took him over at times, so Sakura reasoned he must be able to suppress the seal, whether through techniques or just shear willpower, but she could not be certain until she found him.

Which was why she was now approaching Konoha, to find Orochimaru. Her plan had been simple, find out where this friend of Kimimaro's was hidden by getting that information from the snake-sannin, but now that she had had time to reflect on this plan, she was very certain that she would not be able to pull it off.

'Ok, I gotta sneak in, find the snake, beat the information out of him and then escape without pursuit. Easy.' Sakura thought to herself. 'Hell yeah, that'll really work.' Sakura shook her head. 'You moron Sakura. There's no way you can beat that snake. Even if I could the fight would be long and drawn out and he's probably got loads of guards as well. I'd be taken down quickly.'

"Why do things always seem so simple at first?" Sakura quietly asked herself and almost fell out of the tree when she was answered.

'Because it was spur of the moment and you were not thinking straight.' Ranma answered. Sakura waved her arms until her balance returned and she left out a sigh of relief at not falling. She was surprised to note that Ranma's voice in her head sounded male now and not just a copy of her own.

'Don't do that!' Sakura mentally shouted. 'Ranma, you sound...err...different.'

'Yeah, well I don't think there's any reason for me ta pretend to be your inner voice anymore.' Ranma replied. 'You do realise ya really screwed up right?'

Sakura giggled nervously while replying. 'Yeah, kinda.'

'No kinda about it.' Ranma sounded annoyed. 'That was almost the stupidest, most harebrained, immature, reckless and irresponsible thing I've ever seen!'

Each word hit Sakura like a hammer blow and she felt herself try to sink away. "Sorry." Sakura mumbled out loud feeling ashamed.

'Awww what the heck, I woulda done the same when I was younger too.' Ranma told her, the voice in her head took on a lighter tone.

'So, you're not mad at me?' Sakura asked.

'Hell yeah.' Ranma replied. 'I'm mad, but I don't blame ya. But that was something you always shouted at Naruto for doing, running head first into trouble. Next time use your head before running towards almost certain doom okays?'

'Yeah.' Sakura lightly knuckled her head in embarrassment.

'Right!' Ranma stated turning serious. 'You made a promise to Kimimaro. You know how serious I take promises, so now I'm gonna have to help keep ya alive long enough to fulfil it. First problem you've created, Sasuke.'

'Sasuke?' Sakura asked with a frown. 'I didn't want him following me. You know Orochimaru wants him as his next body.'

'Yeah, I do. But you do realise he'll more than likely be obsessing over killing you now as much as his brother right?' Ranma stated.

'But…'

'Just listen okay.' Ranma interrupted. 'Think about what you did. The whole get stronger to beat me crap? Sasuke is obsessed enough with getting strong enough to kill his brother without you making him worse right? Now, what happened back when we met Itachi? Sasuke got his butt handed to him by his brother, but you went and got lucky enough to almost defeat him. If not for his partner you'd have sucked all his energies out and I'm damned sure Sasuke believes that as well. He was really interested in learning the Happogojuensatsu technique for obvious reasons. Now you've set yourself up as the bar for him ta aim for, I bet he's gonna come after you before going after Itachi now.'

'I only wanted to keep him away from Orochimaru.' Sakura sighed in defeat as she realised Ranma was more than likely correct.

'I know that.' Ranma comforted her. 'But you went about it in the worst possible way. I think Sasuke may stay away for a bit until he believes he's strong enough to take you down. But once he thinks he can beat ya he'll come for you and if you're near the snake…'

'Orochimaru might capture him.' Sakura finished sounding depressed. 'But what else could I have done?'

'I don't really know. Sasuke is too mule headed to listen if ya told him to stay away.' Ranma stated after a short pause. 'We'll have to deal with Sasuke later. Right now you need to figure out what you're gonna do about your promise.'

'I have to find his friend and help him get rid of the cursed seal.' Sakura stated her determination returning.

'How?' Ranma asked bluntly.

'I…errr…'

'Exactly.' Ranma stated smugly his point made. 'You're first plan was to beat the information out of the snake. That is a really stupid idea. Remember Itachi? He is classed as S-Rank missing-nin yet both he and his partner ran when faced with Jiraiya, who as far as I gather is on par with Orochimaru. You can't beat Itachi or that Kisame at your current level, unless you catch em by surprise. You need to pick your fights much more carefully.'

Sakura nodded to herself as Ranma was making sense.

'Now, we've decided ya can't beat the snake yet, what could you do?' Ranma asked rhetorically. 'First thing, you could return to Jiraiya and say you were stupid and are sorry and hope he doesn't just tell you to get lost. You could go off someplace and train by yourself until you can take the snake. Or…you could go to the snake and pretend you're there to serve him, gain his trust and discover the name and location of Kimimaro's friend.'

'I don't have the time to train to the level I'd need.' Sakura told Ranma vehemently. 'Every second I waste he could be taken over by the seal.'

'Kids…' Ranma sighed. 'Fine, then you need to gain his trust. Okay, give me a second to think.' Ranma went silent for a few minutes before speaking up once more. 'Okay, I think this might work. You sneak in under the Umisenken, make absolutely certain no one spots you until you find the snake. Then drop it while next to him, hopefully he won't notice till you appear suddenly. Make a big statement on how pathetic his guards are; make sure you hammer the point across that a little girl could sneak up on them. Now, I can bet he'll ask ya ta do things to prove your loyalty to him, things that you'll not want to, that you'll hate yourself for…you're going to have to use the soul of ice pretty much constantly to appear soulless and unaffected by the stuff you'll see. Are you certain you can do that Sakura?'

'I…' Sakura paused, unsure if she would be able to do that.

'I not gonna lie, if you go ta him and go through with this you may end up doing terrible things, things that may haunt you till your times over, especially as ya need to gain his trust. The road ta hell is paved with good intentions or sumthin' like that.' Ranma's voice was deadly serious as he spoke in Sakura's head. 'Can you do that Sakura? Can you really live with yourself doing that?'

'I...I'll try.' Sakura told Ranma after a short pause, her mental voice wavering.

'There is no try with this stuff Sakura.' Ranma stated, his voice hard. 'Beyond here is the point of no return. This is the stuff I was taught that ninja's did, assassination and spying...this isn't martial arts, this is the reality of war. You still have the other choices, you can still back down from this path if you want.'

'No. I made that promise and I need to find him. I have to try this.' Sakura stated firmly after a short pause to thing. She decided this was the only way to quickly fulfil her promise.

'Are you...' Ranma started to say but was cut off.

'I'm sure. I have to do this.'

'Damn, you're really are gonna.' Ranma finally stated after a short pause; Sakura was certain her tenant was shaking his metaphorical head at the moment. 'Okay, so you sneak in and surprise the snake. Then you have to gain his trust. That's the part I'm worried for you about. He's gonna ask you all sorts of questions and you'll have to answer truthfully unless you're an exceptional liar.'

'Do you think he'll be able to tell if I'm lying?' Sakura asked.

'He's supposed to be smart and damned tricky. Also guys like him don't trust anyone and are really good at catching traitors because they're totally paranoid. The only way to gain any trust will be to tell him the truth and do as he asks.' Ranma sighed. 'Also, he's a sucker for learning new techniques right? It would look good to teach him some technique he has not seen before, something simple but flashy and that you can easily defeat if he tried to use it against you. Let him know you know lots more. Tempt him with a promise of techniques.'

'Wow, Ranma I never knew you were so sneaky.' Sakura smiled.

'Yeah, I never used to be. Must be all the time I hung around that damned fox.' Ranma replied. 'Speaking of the fox...'

'Hmm?' Sakura wondered what Ranma was going to say.

'Naruto is able to use the fox's chakra at certain times right?'

'Yeah, I guess so. Jiraiya seems to think that.'

'Then...' Ranma began slowly. 'I think you should be able to do the same with mine, especially as I'm far more willing to give it to you.'

'Then...I'd be super powerful right?' Sakura frowned. 'Shouldn't I be able to beat Orochimaru with your power. I mean you're as strong as Kyuubi right?'

'I'm stronger.' Ranma boasted, the old Saotome cockiness resurfaced. 'Anyway...' Ranma continued ignoring Sakura's disbelief. 'I doubt your body could take all that power in one go.'

'I guess it'd be like filling a balloon too full right?' Sakura stated thinking about how chakra worked.

'Yeah, you'd probably pop.' Ranma agreed. 'Remember when Kyuubi gave you some chakra when he linked us? He enlarged your flows then and the amount of chakra must have been nothing to him but to you it was more power than you've ever held before. Even taking into account the Happogojuensatsu ability to hold chakra I doubt you can hold my full power.'

'So you just need to give me enough to fill my coils and replace it as I use it.' Sakura reasoned. 'That would make it look like I had infinite chakra even if my reserves can't actually take it all in one go.'

'Now there's the Sakura I know. Using ya head.' Ranma complemented as what she was suggesting was a good idea. 'Only one tiny problem left to solve.'

'What?'

'I have no idea how to actually give ya my chakra.' Ranma sighed.

"Drat." Sakura said out loud as the pleasing thought of getting to use Ranma's chakra and ki turned to one of disappointment. Sakura sighed and began thinking before she snapped her fingers.

'Hey Ranma.'

'Yeah Sakura?'

'Maybe we can ask Kyuubi how he does it. I mean we can talk with him anytime if we allow the link or I could summon him again.' Sakura stated.

'I don't like the idea of owing the fox anymore favours than I do already.' Ranma told Sakura, what Ranma thought of that idea was made clear by his tone. 'And ya know he'll not give the info for free. It's always an exchange, and take it from me, ya'll always come off worst.'

'But it's worth a try right? We can just walk away if we don't like the terms right?' Sakura asked.

'I guess so.' Ranma replied slowly after a short pause to consider that. 'Okay, we'll go talk with the fox.'

'How do we do that?' Sakura asked.

'Easy.' Ranma stated. 'Just go into a meditative trance and allow the link to draw us to him. Kinda the reverse of summoning the fox.'

'Right.' Sakura nodded before sitting down on the branch her legs dangling and she leaned backwards to spin around off the branch and drop towards the ground. Sakura landed lightly and checked the area for auras, finding nothing she reasoned she was reasonably safe and sat down crossed legged. Taking a couple of deep breaths she calmed herself and focused inwards and on the link.

Sakura shrieked and leapt away as a hand lightly touched her on the shoulder.

"Sorry 'bout that." Ranma's voice stated while Sakura looked around and recognised the room that symbolised Kyuubi's prison inside of Naruto. Once again she found herself standing ankle deep in water.

'Wait a minute?' Sakura finally realised that Ranma had touched her and she spun to face him.

"Ranma?" Sakura asked warily as she took in the man she was looking at. Average sized, black hair in a familiar pigtail and bright blue eyes staring at her, friendly but piercing.

"Yup." Ranma smiled at her and Sakura realised just how handsome he was. She knew what Ranma had looked like from his memories but they were like how you knew what you looked like but thought nothing of it. As she took in his appearance she noted the old robes he was wearing were very similar to those the Kage's always wore to indicate their position. A strange thought that maybe Ranma was the template for the village leaders entered her mind as she stared.

"I guess you like what ya see." Ranma's smile morphed into a smirk and Sakura began waving a hand towards him in embarrassment.

"It's not like that!"

"Yeah, I know. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to mess with ya." Ranma chuckled before he grew serious and turned towards the bars. Kyuubi was nowhere in sight, but you could not actually tell with the darkness.

"Hey, fox! We've come ta speak with ya." Ranma shouted walking towards the bars confidently. "No point hiding, I know ya can't actually go anywhere."

Sakura flinched as the pair of huge red eyes opened in the darkness and glared out at them and the feeling of evil began oozing out of the cage.

"So, you finally see fit to speak with me Saotome." Kyuubi's deep voice growled while Ranma stepped closer, before stopping and looking upwards.

"Feh, ya gonna give me a bad neck fox. Why don'tcha make yaself a little easier on the eyes?" Ranma shouted up totally unaffected by Kyuubi's presence.

Kyuubi's claws flashed out between the bars and slammed into the ground barely an inch in front of Ranma, whose hair and robes fluttered as the claws passed him.

"Because I can't you moron." Kyuubi growled out as Ranma nonchalantly cleaned his nails, unconcerned at how close Kyuubi's claws had come to him. "If I could change my form and walk out of this prison do you not think I would have by now?"

"Who ya calling a moron flea bag?" Ranma asked.

"You, you imbecile!"

"I'm an imbecile? Who's the dope that got himself sealed huh?"

"All because of the idiot that got himself killed!"

"Aww shut it mutt!"

"You shut it cat-monkey!"

"Walking bristle brush!"

"Pussy!"

Sakura stared in total bewilderment at the surreal and loud sight of Ranma and Kyuubi throwing insults back and forth like a couple of children. Sakura stood blinking as the insults ramped up along with the volume. After a couple of minutes the pair ended up growling at each other and Sakura finally worked up the guts to speak.

"Errr, Ranma? Can we get on with what we came here for?" Sakura asked ready to flee as the two looked over at her.

"Oh right." Ranma nodded and turned back to stare up at Kyuubi. "We want to know how you give your chakra to Naruto."

"So...that's why you've come." Kyuubi rumbled eyeing them intently. "You want to know how to lend your power to the girl. Your foolishness know no bounds Saotome. Why you choose to relinquish your body to her I'll never understand."

"Because I should be long gone fox." Ranma said sadly. "I should be with my wife, not here."

"Sentimental old fool." Kyuubi growled shaking his head.

"Are you gonna tell us or just whine on about my weakness' all night?" Ranma sighed rubbing his forehead in growing annoyance.

"What's in it for me?" Kyuubi leaned closer his nose touching the bars of his cage.

Ranma held the fox's gaze for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and turning away. "Feh, not worth it. I'll just figure it out by myself. After all, I'm Ranma Saotome. Come on Sakura we're leaving."

Sakura blinked uncertain but began walking when Ranma placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently.

"Wait!" Kyuubi's voice shouted out and they paused.

"What is it?" Ranma stated looking back at the demon fox over his shoulder.

"I'll tell you, just let me have a few moments freedom again." Kyuubi almost sounded like he was pleading. "Even if just for a day."

x X x

"The sights and smells of the world! Finally some freedom." Kyuubi yipped as the demon fox walked around the small clearing taking in each sight and smell as if they had been his first. Sakura watched the apparently normal fox carefully as Ranma had told her to.

"If that is all you need from me. There's vixen's to find!" Kyuubi barked before bursting into a sprint away from Sakura.

'Wonder what trouble he'll get into.' Ranma's voice stated in Sakura's head as she watched Kyuubi, in the body of an ordinary sized fox lope off into the forest.

"He can't get into much can he? I didn't give him a lot chakra, barely a day's worth." Sakura asked concerned about letting the fox out unsupervised for a day, even in a powerless form she wondered if it was such a good idea.

'Too late now. But at least we know how to let ya have my ki and chakra.' Ranma stated sounding pleased. 'The experiment worked, so now at least if things go badly in Konoha we have a good chance of getting out.'

Sakura grinned, the little test they had conducted had been a resounding success, better than she had hoped. Now this was what she called a trump card.

'Are you ready then?' Ranma asked.

"Let's go."Sakura nodded even though Ranma could not see it and turned to face Konoha. Taking a deep breath Sakura's face took on a determined expression and she found herself almost excited. This was it.

Focusing her ki, she went through to setup of the Umisenken. Wrapping the collected ki around herself she vanished from sight and sense and began making her way towards Konoha.

Soon Sakura drew close enough to make out the damage that the outer walls had suffered in Orochimaru's attack. The wall had been shattered by something large smashing its way through Sakura reckoned as she paused and examined the way ahead. Guards, wearing Sound-nin head protectors had been posted by the damaged wall and stood scanning the forest.

'Hmmm. The rubble might cause a noise if I try and climb over it.' Sakura thought as she noticed that the rubble had not been cleared yet. 'Guess I'll just have to walk up the wall.'

Sakura carefully and easily avoided the guards and was soon climbing up and over the wall. Once at the top she paused to make sure no one was close and looked into the village. Seeing the devastation of many of the buildings Sakura felt her emotions swell. Anger at seeing what she considered her home destroyed. Worry at who and how many had been killed.

'Ranma, I need to check if my parents are okay.' Sakura told her tenant.

'Be careful.' Ranma replied. 'You should use the soul of ice ta suppress your emotions, especially if ya see something upsetting. You can't afford to give yourself away just yet.'

'What about the temperature drop?' Sakura worried that that might give herself away as well.

'Simple. Just use it enough to suppress emotions, it'll still cause your ki to go cold but not enough for anyone to notice at night.' Ranma told her.

As Sakura moved around the devastated Konoha she was glad she had slipped into the soul of ice as some of the streets and buildings, so familiar to herself had been damaged beyond recognition. It was almost surreal how different the village seemed. Most of the streets seemed to be without power and only a few buildings had any light escaping from behind shut curtains. The only people seen out were Sound-nins patrolling. Sakura had heard some raised voices and a couple of screams but had not actually seen any fighting. The whole feeling of the village was one of subdued fear and not the friendly and safe atmosphere she remembered from growing up.

When Sakura rounded the corner to the street she had lived on she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of a huge trench where the street had once been. The houses had mostly collapsed, a few walls still standing like broken teeth.

'No.' Sakura stated mentally her control almost slipping as she stared.

'Sakura, this don't mean they're dead.' Ranma comforted her. 'Your parents might not have been here when this happened.'

'If...if they are...' Sakura thought and swore that this was another thing she would make the snake pay for.

'If they are...I'll make sure you can take him down.' Ranma stated with certainty. 'But for now you have a promise to keep.'

'You're right.' Sakura thought back and turned to look toward the Hokage's tower. 'Orochimaru must be there.'

Sakura quickly and silently made her way to the Hokage's tower and easily slipped past the guards posted outside. As she expected the tower was more heavily guarded, indicating that Orochimaru was most likely inside.

'He'll most likely be right at the top.' Sakura thought to herself as she moved through the building as fast as she could while keeping stealthed. The guards seemed to be concentrated on the lower floors and soon she stopped seeing them, which seemed strange to her.

As she approached the highest room she heard voices conversing. Getting closer she recognised one of them.

"I've examined the damage extensively. Whatever the old man did it has blocked off your coils in your arms. Without chakra flowing through them they're going to slowly die off and begin rotting. We need to do something quickly before that happens Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto's voice sounded down the corridor.

'Kabuto? So he is working with the snake?' Sakura thought with a frown as she moved closer and looked into the room. Inside she immediately recognised Kabuto standing in front of Orochimaru who was sitting in a chair. Both of his arms where completely bandaged up and rested on the chair arms. The expression on his face was one of complete and utter cold fury as he glared right through Kabuto, not seeing the medic-nin.

'So, his arms are useless?' Sakura frowned.

Kneeling in front of Orochimaru, Sakura could see four Sound-nins. Each of them had a strong aura about them and suddenly Sakura found her answer why the guards had seemed to disappear as she drew closer. These four must be Orochimaru's elite.

'Be careful Sakura.' Ranma warned speaking up again. 'There's more than we reckoned.'

x X x

"Damn you old man." Orochimaru cursed Sarutobi for the thousandth time since his arms had been sealed. If he did not do something soon his arms would end up in a worse stated than they were right now. The agony was almost unbearable and would only get worse in time.

"I don't have the knowledge to repair the damage Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto informed his boss regretfully.

Orochimaru clenched his fingers drawing fresh agony as his hands slowly and painfully responded. He was about to speak when he felt something strange. Something in the room felt off and he slowly felt around with his senses. 'Strange. I don't feel anything thing but something is definitely different suddenly. What is it?'

Still examining the room he ignored Kabuto's voice and looked around with more than just his eyes. 'There. Something's wrong with that area.' Orochimaru kept his appearance neutral and examined the weird area. He could not sense any chakra, in fact he could not sense anything there at all. As he examined the area closely it began moving towards him, making its way slowly around the Sound Four. As the area approached he suddenly figured out what felt so wrong. The moving area was as if it did not actually exist, as if something was suppressing everything in that place.

'A stealth technique?' Orochimaru thought to himself and examined the area even closer. Now that he was aware of the void he could feel its approach. 'Seems no one else has spotted it, not even Kabuto. I wonder who it is?' Orochimaru's interest was aroused and he curiously wondered what this person would do. 'Will you try and assassinate me stranger?' Orochimaru thought with a mental grin as he readied himself for an attack.

x X x

As Sakura drew closer she used a hidden weapons technique to retrieve one of the bone spears she had retrieved from her battle with Kimimaro and got the weapon ready. So far she was certain no one had sensed her, which was good. Sakura got into position just behind and to the side of the snake-sannin and pointed the tip of the bone spear towards his neck. Sakura was about to drop the Umisenken when Orochimaru spoke.

"Impressive whoever you are to get this close. Why don't you drop your technique so we can talk?"

'What?' Sakura mentally gasped.

'Shit. Sakura this guy is good.' Ranma's voice warned. 'You should get ready to run.'

Kabuto and the Sound Four went into defensive stances instantly and began looking for who their boss was speaking to.

"Amazing how an invalid takes over an entire hidden village." Sakura hissed dropping the Umisenken and holding the bone spear's tip against Orochimaru's neck.

"What the hell!" Sakura heard a voice cry out but did not look up as she was staring the snake-sannin in the eyes.

"Don't anyone move." Sakura growled and indicated towards Orochimaru with her head. "Make any move and he's dead."

"Sakura Haruno." Orochimaru hissed amused. "It's been a while since we last met." The snake-sannin's eyes looked towards the bone spear and then back to Sakura and smirked. "Since the incident in that forest."

"Yeah, I had a hell of a time with your cursed seal." Sakura stated coldly as she drew on the soul of ice technique more strongly lowering the temperature around herself.

"Is that the girl who destroyed her cursed seal?" Sakon asked warily.

"Yeah, that's her." Kabuto replied pushing his glasses up slowly. The Sound Four shifted restlessly at this news and the fact Sakura had a weapon pressed to Orochimaru's neck. This was unheard of.

"I always thought there was something strange about you Kabuto." Sakura stated not taking her eyes off the snake-sannin. "Never expected you were working for Orochimaru."

"I take it you met Kimimaro." Orochimaru chuckled as he watched the girl carefully. 'She seems to suppress her emotions just as Kabuto surmised, and that stealth technique, I must learn that.'

"Let's get one thing clear. I don't like you, in fact I despise you. The only reason I'm here is because I gained a respect for Kimimaro and will honour his last wishes." Sakura said removing the bone spear from Orochimaru's neck and flipped it around as she stepped away. Sakura knelt down in a bow, playing the part of a subservient underling.

"Stop." Orochimaru commanded as the Sound Four almost as one went to attack the kneeling girl. "Good. I would be very displeased if the one to defeat Kimimaro had to destroy some of my guards."

At Orochimaru's words the Sound Four all exchanged glances in surprise.

"You did defeat him did you not?" Orochimaru asked with a sadistic grin plastered on his face as he observed Sakura.

"He's dead if that's what you mean." Sakura stated in her emotionless tone and kept her eyes down.

"Impressive." Kabuto spoke. "Even if he was ill at the time."

"True." Orochimaru stated. "Even so, I require proof of your abilities."

"I would expect nothing less." Sakura stated standing up. "I suppose you have a test for me?"

"Hmmm." Orochimaru's grin widened if that was possible and he stood up. Walking over to look down at Sakura he continued to speak. "Of course, the one who defeated Kimimaro has to be strong enough to do defeat those Kimimaro could defeat." Orochimaru indicated the Sound Four. "Kimimaro defeated my elites that stand before you. I expect you will have even less trouble beating them than he did."


End file.
